Keeping the Light
by Nonezumi
Summary: For NaNoWriMo 2011! Kawano Ayame is a new student at Karakura High School. She is, however, anything but normal. Ayame can sense and hear things normal people cannot... and she is not alone. Rated T, but might become M for later chapters.
1. Her First Night

This is my second fanfiction. I am starting it out as a project for NaNoWriMo 2011 but I hope to continue it beyond the 50,000 word limit. The story will follow along the timeline of the anime. I am recycling some things from my first fanfiction that I had discontinued. Some scenes are slight novelizations of the anime; in order to avoid trouble, I will not be writing dialogue from the anime word-for-word. I am going to try to write the Bleach canon characters as in-character as possible.

If you like Harry Potter fanfic, check out my friend VanityIre!

I do not own Bleach or its canon, only the non-canon in the fanfiction.

This entry has 2,042 words.

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><p><strong>Chapter One: Her First Night<strong>

An old man in a white simple white kimono with a navy hakama tied just above his waistline hummed as he walked down a quiet street sidewalk. A high school girl in a knee-length blue skirt and a white shirt followed.

Ayame walked behind her grandfather with two full bags of vegetables in her hands. They had gone to the store for groceries for dinner. The sky was blue and spotted with white clouds then, but now the clouds were scarce against a fading orange-to-navy sky and stars started to come out for the night. She looked ahead of her, passed her grandfather's hunched stature, with a lot of things on her mind. Tomorrow, she would be starting her first day at Karakura High School after spending years learning at home. Ayame had been passed from family member to family member after her parents died, and ended up at her grandparents when she turned fifteen. She looked down to the old man's back and sighed.

Her melancholy thoughts were disrupted by a ripple. Not a physical one or a sound, but a ripple that disturbed her deep inside. It made her uneasy. Something was wrong, and the ripple came from far behind her. Ayame stopped and turned to look. Nothing was visible. Goose bumps crawled down her back as she scanned the area.

"Is everything all right, Ayame?"

His question did not shake her from her concentration. Even the loose strands of her hair did not disturb her. Her dark brown hair was held back and up by a clip, except for a small portion she had tied at the end with a yellow band and hung on the left side of her face. The wind picked up some dead leaves and made them dance across the ground at Ayame's feet. Light from the dying sun reflected off the silver Pisan cross dangling from a chain clasped around her neck. She blinked do prevent her eyes from drying out as the wind picked up.

There was a shriek that came from the direction she gazed toward. It sent another wave of chills down her spine. The grotesque screech did not sound human. As beastly and loud as it was, Ayame felt no reaction to it from her grandfather. Everything fell silent and the air became thick. The uneasy feeling disappeared in an instant when the wind died. When it was gone, the air felt light again as if a knife had cut through it to get rid of the pressure.

"Ayame, we're going to be late," her grandfather said. "Hurry up, child. I won't allow you to stand there and stare into space like some idiot."

Ayame turned back around in a rush. "Gomenasai!" She griped the bags tighter and jogged up to his side. There was an awkward silence between them as they continued their walk. Should she mention the strange feeling she had? And what about the shriek she heard – did he hear it, too? She calmly breathed in and out as the silence was lifted by the evening chirps of a swift and its friends. Accompanied by the bird song, crickets, and the shuffling of her grandfather's feet, Ayame eased into a quiet peace the rest of the way home.

By the time they reached the gated two-story house, Ayame's grandmother had already started dinner. Ayame and her grandfather left their shoes near the door inside the house. The entire place smelled of frying beef, and the sound of boiling water was heard from the kitchen. Her grandfather left Ayame to unpack the bags on the counter. She took out two big radishes, a couple of bell peppers, and tomatoes from one bag. The lettuce, onions, and cabbage came from a second bag. A few of the things they bought were left out to be cut as soon as possible, but Ayame was asked by her grandmother to put the remaining perishables into the fridge. She did as she was asked, and then picked up a knife to start slicing the vegetables left out on the kitchen counter. Ayame cut slowly and looked down at the radish with distant thoughts. What was that she had sensed earlier? It was more difficult than she imagined dismissing the animalistic screech from of her memory. Something was very familiar about it, too.

"Ayame-san?" The soft voice of the elderly woman next to her stirred her from her thoughts. "Is everything okay?"

Ayame lifted an arm and wiped her forehead with it. "I'm fine, obaa-san."

"Well, don't look so depressed, dear." She took some of the chopped radish and put it inside the wok. "You're too young to get wrinkles. Smile more often. Besides, I didn't make your favourite dessert just to see you stare off into the distance."

She grinned at her grandmother's words. "Really?" Ayame's eyes lit up. With her mind now set on something different, she went back to cutting the last of the radish with enthusiasm. Her grandmother chuckled as the younger woman sliced the white vegetable. "Do we have enough for me to make a lunch tomorrow?"

"Of course," her grandmother answered while she stirred the stir fry. "Plenty of rice and nori, and I've saved the last of our apples for you! You should have enough to keep you satiated." Ayame passed over the rest of the chopped radish. It was joined by some carrots, lettuce, onions, and mushrooms. The house smelled of delicious stir-fried vegetables with teriyaki beef.

The dinner was even more delicious than it looked. Sighs of satisfaction and chatter of tomorrow's possibilities filled the dining room. Ayame sat opposite her grandparents. She listened to them talk about things only old people cared about as she chewed on some of her vegetables. Her grandfather chortled at something her grandmother said, and asked for more drink. Ayame reflected on her previous family dinners before tonight; sometimes she had barely anything more than steamed rice to eat, and did not have anyone to eat with at all. She smiled gratefully for what she was experiencing now. Her cousins, the ones she lived with last, were too busy to take the time to eat and bond at the dinner table. Right now, she was where she felt she wanted to be: in a loving home with a positive, laid-back atmosphere.

"I heard you made Ayame a dessert special for tonight?" Her grandfather put his napkin on his empty plate. "I think we can bring it out now." He winked over to Ayame who was still eating her rice. She wanted to protest – wanted to finish her meal – but he insisted on moving the night's meal along. Ayame helped to clean dishes off the table while her grandfather waited for the dessert to be delivered to him. "Ayame, come back in here! It's a surprise for you, so you should sit back and be surprised!" He patted the chair her grandmother had been sitting in, and she took it without question. Once she was seated, her grandfather stood up and put his hands over her eyes.

"Ojii-san!" She gasped and put her hands on his.

"He he he," he laughed. "Just to make sure you don't peek."

Ayame forced an exhale and put her hands back in her lap. She sat for what felt like forever until the clink of ceramic hitting hardwood rang in her ears. Her nose picked up a familiar scent, something sweet and sugary. The taste buds on her tongue started tingling as her mouth began to water. "Can I see now?" What it could be was easy to take a guess at just by the scent. After a few seconds of waiting, the hands over her eyes were removed and she could see what was placed before her. At the sight of the delectable treat, Ayame squealed and jumped out of the chair. "Thank you so much! It looks delicious!"

On top of a round silver tray sat a round shortcake topped with strawberries and whipped cream. The layers were visible, showing off the two outer layers of yellow sponge cake, and the inner layer of chilled whipped cream and strawberry slices. Ayame hugged her grandparents before turning around to pluck a whole strawberry off the top. She bit into it just as her grandmother slapped her elbow. "Not so fast! We are going to make a prayer and then cut it!" The three of them smiled, and Ayame and her grandparents giggled. Her grandfather and she sat back down, Ayame licked some whipped cream off her thumb, and then proceeded to say a prayer once her grandmother was seated. They prayed that Ayame would enjoy her life here and have a wonderful first day of school tomorrow. Her grandfather quickly added in a wish to see her become top of her class before they finished.

After the shortcake was sliced, eaten slowly to savour the taste, and the unfinished portions packaged and placed in the fridge, Ayame wished her elderly guardians good night and sweet dreams. She skipped up the stairs to her second-floor bedroom with a smile on her face. Nothing could make her night go bad after eating her favourite dessert! Ayame gathered a pair of light blue pajama shorts and a matching camisole, and then headed to the bathroom next to her bedroom. She placed the clean clothes next to the sink, filled up the bathtub with warm water, and then undressed. Ayame untied the yellow band holding strands of her hair to the side, and unclasped the hair behind her head. The dark brown tussles cascaded just below her shoulders once everything was loose. She gazed at herself in the mirror, admiring her wisteria irises and the plainness of her face. There was nothing model-like about her; she had some curves where they were needed, but she never compared herself to the idols everyone admired and followed.

Ayame stepped one foot into the clear, warm bath water, and watched the goose bumps climb up her leg. She smiled in bliss as she dipped the rest of her body slowly into the water. Her dark brown hair faded to black after getting wet, and her pale beige skin glistened as steam rolled off the surface of the water. The bath relaxed her so much; she started to fall asleep after she reclined back. Ayame lifted a leg out of the water and rubbed a bar of soap she grabbed from the side of the bath tub along her calf to stay awake. The pleasant scent of her shampoo and conditioner made the bathroom smell of a flower garden of magnolias.

The relaxing wash had to be cut short for the sake of a healthy sleep. Ayame got out of the bath tub, dried herself off, and redressed in clean underwear and the light blue pajamas. She took one last look in the mirror. She puffed her left cheek, and then poked at it with her left pointer finger. The last thing to do was brush her teeth. The minty toothpaste was not her favourite: she made a face before spitting out the foam created by her brushing. When that was all done and the bathroom cleaned, Ayame left for her bedroom.

She sat with legs crossed on top of the yellow plaid comforter. The necklace unclasped with ease, but she did not place it on her desk immediately. Ayame held it before her. The Pisan cross reflected the light from her desk, flashing her eyes. Something told her it was important. Maybe it was just something she made up herself. For as long as she could remember, she had this charm with her. The only time she took it off was at bedtime. Tonight, however, she pondered whether or not she wanted to start wearing it permanently. She did take a bath with it on and nothing harmful happened to it.

Ayame clasped the chain back around her neck. She stretched before getting under her covers, and then turned off the desk lamp. When the room fell dark, she finally welcomed the sleep she fought off while in the bathroom. The only thoughts on her mind before closing her eyes were about her first day at Karakura High School.


	2. Handicrafts Club

If you like Harry Potter fanfic, check out my friend VanityIre!

I do not own Bleach or its canon, only the non-canon in the fanfiction.

This entry has 2,503 words.

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><p><strong>Chapter Two: Handicrafts Club<strong>

The morning sunlight peeked in through the white curtains of Ayame's bedroom. She rose from her bed to stretch. The light blue camisole lifted to expose her small belly button. Ayame shook her head, her hair bouncing everywhere until she stopped to brush it with her fingers. She sat up in bed and withdrew the curtains to reveal a peaceful morning. A deep sigh of comfort and ease left her lips. There was nothing like waking up with the warm sun on her face.

Ayame stepped off her bed, her arms behind her so she could mess with her hair some more, and walked to her quaint closet. Inside the closet hung a new Karakura High School uniform that her grandmother washed and ironed yesterday. She took it out and laid it on her bed. Before she put it on, she dressed out of her pajamas and into a clean pink-and-white striped bra with lacey frills and matching panties. The uniform fit perfectly and did not bulge out anywhere, and she admitted to herself that she liked the skirt. Ayame put her hair up, some strands

She set her bed up for another night's sleep. The curtains were left open until she would come back home. On her desk was a yellow bag with notebooks and a pencil case. Ayame grabbed the bag then headed downstairs for something to eat. "Ohayou!" She found her grandmother putting a plate of eggs on the table and a glass of milk. Ayame put her bag down on the table and headed into the kitchen for a jar of honey. She sat down at the seat prepared for her.

"I was hoping you'd wake up soon! The eggs were getting cold, and your granpa and I already ate our share," the old woman said.

Ayame chewed on her breakfast after she drizzled honey all over her eggs. "Gomen, gomen," she managed to say between mouthfuls of egg. Her grandfather was sitting in the living room. The television could be heard from the table, and it did not sound good.

Sirens rung in the background as a reporter informed, "The incident occurred near the main street outside Karakura Station." Ayame stood up and took her dishes to the kitchen where she placed them in the sink to be washed. "Locals say around 7:30am, the ground shook and there was a crash as the walls of buildings exploded." She hummed as she walked over to her grandfather, and leaned over the back of the couch to kiss him on the cheek. "Experts are working with investigators to discover the cause." The images they showed on television were not pretty. Ayame stood to watch the rest of the report.

"Don't forget your lunch!" Her grandmother came to her side and held up a bento box wrapped in a yellow plaid cloth.

Ayame stared at the television screen, worried about what happened and what could happen. She was sure that the incident happened not too far from her grandparents' home. It took her grandmother several tries to get Ayame's attention. "Oh, sorry, obaa-san," she apologized and took the lunch. With her mind off the screen, Ayame went to the table to pick up her bag, and then headed for the door. "Sayonara, obaa-san, ojii-san!" She put on her Mary Jane flats and opened the front door.

"Have a great day at school!" Her grandmother shouted after her, waving with a smile.

Ayame jogged down the small street until she got to a four-way intersection. She stopped to look at where she needed to go. The school loomed before her after she ran in one direction for several minutes. When she got to the gate, she slowed down to a walk. Her chest rose and fell with each deep breath for air after her run. She entered the school quietly – changed her shoes at the lockers, received a paper pass from a faculty member – and then headed to class. The door she came to had a rectangular window she peered through to look at the class. Only one student stood out among the others. A tall boy with spiked orange hair in a sea of natural hair colour sat in her view. Another student, a girl, with long orange hair stood out, too. Ayame's gaze wandered to the girl's chest. She put her hands on her own chest and looked down at the average bust. In comparison, the orange-haired girl was a porn goddess. Ayame pouted and squeezed her breasts together to see if it made any difference.

"Ahem," a voice cleared in front of her.

She looked up with her hands still pushing her chest in and up. An awkward silence thickened the air as Ayame looked directly at the teacher holding the door open for her. "Ano… ano…" Ayame fumbled to remove her hands from her breasts, and retrieved her slip of attendance to the teacher. The paper was taken with haste, and she was permitted entrance into the classroom.

"We have a new student," the teacher wrote the name Kawano Ayame on the board as he spoke. "It is her first time in a public school, and she will be with us until graduation. Please, give her a nice introduction."

If not all of the students had not been looking at her earlier as she was adjusting her chest, all eyes were on her blushing face now. She had a feeling some might still be looking at her chest. This thought made her blush more. The class greeted her as enthusiastically as it could – a few of the girls cheered her up with their happier hellos as most of the boys mumbled more than talked coherently. "Ohayou gozaimasu!" Ayame bowed to her classmates. The room quieted after her greeting. She looked to the teacher, her eyes glancing over one of the male students as he looked at her, for instructions on what to do next. The teacher pointed her to her seat, and finished the morning announcements. He sounded agitated for the interruption she had caused; the faculty must not have informed him of the new arrival.

Ayame took notes on everything she could without looking at her books. The mathematics, social studies, and language classes passed without any disruption. A few times she felt eyes staring at her. She glanced around once in a while to see who stared, but no one was paying her any attention. When lunch time came around, Ayame was relieved to put away her books and pencil. The students all gather into their groups of friends. Ayame sat alone in her seat, her bento box opened to a meal of teriyaki and rice with apple slices. She sat up straight, broke her chopsticks in two, and then started eating.

Being alone was never any fun. She looked at the students who were seated and eating together. The orange-haired girl stood up and walked over to Ayame. Realising she had been staring; Ayame went back to her food.

"Hey, do you want to eat with us?" The girl gave Ayame a compassionate smile, and her heart melted right away.

"Really?"

"Yeah! And we can share some food! I have some – "

The orange-haired girl was interrupted by a tomboyish female student who stood behind her. "Orihime, I don't think she could stomach anything you made for today. Hey, I'm Tatsuki, and this here is Orihime," she said.

"Hi," Ayame replied with an awkward smile. She had a hard time coming up with what to think of the orange-haired girl as she giggled with Tatsuki now standing next to her. "I'd be happy to join you." She stood up and brought her lunch with her over to the small group of girls. Inside, her heart was pounding furiously; Ayame never had a real group of friends like this to eat with. She sat quietly and the girls chattered about lessons and upcoming school activities. Her eyes wandered over the classroom and landed on a bespectacled student who sat alone.

One of the girls stopped jabbering to poke Ayame in the shoulder. "You looking at Ishida-kun, are we?"

Ayame's face was quick to turn pink. "Ishida-kun?"

"Isn't he in the same club as you, Orihime?" Tatsuki asked.

"Yeah, but I barely know him," she answered. "He doesn't say much."

Ayame stared at Ishida a little longer. She liked his glasses. It hurt her to have to turn back around and finish her apple slices. Once they were finished, lunch was over the class. The rest of the lessons that followed dragged on too long. She wanted school to end. Maybe, she hoped, there would be time to talk to Ishida before he left.

Orihime approached Ayame after the class finished cleaning the room. "Ayame-san, are you in a club? You can join the handicrafts club if you'd like!" Ayame considered the opportunity to socialise. It would make her first day of school all the better. She nodded to Orihime, gathered her bag, and answered, Okay, I'll join!" Orihime grabed her by the arm and showed her to the classroom where the handicrafts club hosted.

"We have a new member!"

Ayame smiled and waved to the few people in the room. She remembered Orihime, of course, and Ishida. A couple of the girls in the club came up to her to greet her and informally welcome her to the class. Ayame caught glimpses of Ishida over their shoulders, but found that he put more interest in his sewing than meeting her. She reluctantly put him in the back of her mind.

"So do you know how to sew or draw?" The questions piled on Ayame. "Do you woodcarve?" "Paint?" Ayame opened her mouth to answer one question, but was interrupted by another. She was starting to feel a little claustrophobic. When she could finally mention she knew a bit of crochet, they dispersed to find her yarn and needles. Orihime put her in a chair up front, a few seats away from Ishida, and then moved away to talk to one of the club members. The seats had been arranged in an oval just for the club. She had a clear view of Ishida.

Ayame set her bag on the floor, pigeon-toed her feet, and placed her hands in her lap. She watched Ishida's hands as they worked delicately with the fabric and string. Her club-mates came back with supplies for her. The yarn was the best quality the hosting teacher could afford, and the needles were lent by one of the girls. She thanked them with a smile. They did not make any motion to move away or start a conversation. Ayame found this hindered her chance to start on a project.

"C-could I get some space?" She asked as sweetly as she could, and they obliged. The green yarn laced nicely around her fingers. Both needles were worn but good. Ayame started her first row, and continued with a second row. She concentrated on not making the rows too loose or too tight. By the time she reached her tenth row, the club meeting was almost over. She stopped and put her crocheting down. There had to be something else to do with her time. Ayame looked over toward Ishida again.

She was spooked when he finally spoke. It came off as rather rude, too. "Are you going to keep staring at me or say something already?"

Ayame gaped, trying to think of something to say. "Ano… what are you sewing?"

"I'm repairing something for a classmate."

"Oh, okay."

Ayame's heart pounded hard enough to jump up her throat. She felt her face get hot in the quiet that fell between them. Instead of staying there to possibly make a fool of herself, Ayame got up and moved to Orihime and her group. They did not talk about anything that interested her at that moment. Her mind was set on Ishida, his hands… his voice. She was asked about why her face was flushed, but she danced around the subject of the colour of her face until they dropped their curiosity.

She was left alone at the lockers. Her school slippers fit nicely inside her locker, and she put on her own shoes. From the other side she heard a locker being closed and locked. She thought she was alone. Ayame tried to ignore the other person. She was bending at her side to put her second shoe on when the other person approached.

"Excuse me," came a familiar voice.

Ayame slowly turned her head up to face the bespectacled student. She swallowed because something caught in her throat.

"You left this in the classroom," Ishida said. He held out to her the scarf she started to make but stopped after a dozen rows. "You're gripping the needles too hard, and you made a few mistakes." Ayame stood on both of her feet before taking the project from him. He adjusted his glasses at the bridge after his hands were freed. The glass reflected a beam of sunlight as he looked down on Ayame.

She did not know what to say, but muttered, "Thank you." The unfinished scarf was stuffed into her bag. As she bent over, the Pisan cross hanging from her necklace fell from behind her top. "I guess I'll see you in class tomorrow." When she stood up again, Ayame saw a look of surprise slapped on Ishida's face; almost like he had seen a ghost. She excused herself, squeezed between the edge of a bench and Ishida, and left the school.

The night at her grandparent's house was quiet. The dinner was good, and there was leftover shortcake for dessert. Ayame excused herself to retire to her bathroom early. All of the anxiety she had experienced in the day tightened her muscles. As she sat chin-deep in the water, she thought about her day. She had her Pisan cross in her mouth, but did not chew on it, and twisted it back and forth between her lips. There was too much she could think about at once. Ayame huffed, spit her charm out, and then submerged herself.

Ayame finished her bath later than last night. She lied in bed earlier than last night. The one thing she could not get off her mind was her last interaction with Ishida. When she looked back, the moment she took her unfinished scarf from him lasted longer than it did in reality. She felt a tingle on her fingertips where she had very briefly touched his skin. The touch might have been imagined, but Ayame was convinced that she felt something for him. His face of surprise threw her off thought, however. She could not think of anything that would make him react like that. Was there something on her face? There was no telling now – she had a bath.

She sighed, turned on her side, and gazed at the stars outside her window. Tomorrow, she told herself, she would talk to him more.


	3. Encounters

This chapter has been added to.

If you like Harry Potter fanfic, check out my friend VanityIre! I have not gotten around to reading, unfortunately, because I am occupied with my own writing at the moment. I am extremely positive that her fanfic is worth reading, because she is a very good writer!

I do not own Bleach or its canon, only the non-canon in the fanfiction.

A/N: I am behind in my daily word count for NaNoWrimo. There may be a chance that I will come out with two chapters in one day. On another note, I am aware that I mentioned that there will be slight novelizations of scenes from the anime and yet there have not been any recognizable scenes from the anime yet; they will appear somewhere down the story. Again, I will do my best to keep canon characters in-character acording to what I watch in the anime and what I read from the Bleach Wiki.

This entry has 2,351 words.

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><p><strong>Chapter Three: Encounters<strong>

It took Ayame all the courage she could muster to approach Ishida in the morning and say hello. He walked passed her without as much as a hint of a grin. "Is he like this all the time?" She was curious to find out more about him from Orihime. The girl shrugged.

For most of the day, Ayame sat in her seat and quietly fumed in her seat. Lunch time rolled around and she sat alone. She rejected an invitation to sit with the other girls. Somehow, eating with a group of giggling school girls was not going to change her mood. Ayame could not, however, stay mad forever. She poked at her rice and nibbled at the plump shrimp in her bento box.

"Excuse me.~"

A shaky voice caught her attention. An apparition of a woman appeared. She looked no older than twenty. Ayame dropped her chopsticks the moment she clapped her eyes on the spirit.

"Are you gonna finish that?~"

"Can you…?" Ayame found it hard to ask the translucent woman the question if she was real or not, and if she could eat the solid food. Her eyes opened wide when the woman reached down to pluck a mushroom from Ayame's lunch. This is not the first time she had seen a spirit, but it had been a long time since she had last been approached by one. The woman mumbled swears under her breath as she failed to pick up the mushroom. She must not have known she was dead. "Excuse me," Ayame whispered. "Why are you here?"

"Silly, it's school," Orihime said behind Ayame. "I'm here to learn!" She pumped a fist into an open palm as a gesture of her determination.

Ayame jumped in her seat. She did not know how long Orihime had been standing there. Had she heard Ayame talking to the spirit? Could she see the spirit? The hairs on the back of Ayame's neck stood on end as Orihime walked around to face Ayame from the front of her desk.

"Don't forget about the club meeting after school today, okay?" Orihime gave a cavity-inducing smile accentuated with a tilt of her head and slight hunch of her shoulders. The apparition floated through Orihime's body and dissipated.

"H-hai," Ayame replied.

She took notes and made an occasional glance to the school yard outside. Ayame packed her things and waited for the class room to empty before she left on her own. Her head hung as she walked down the corridors to the handicrafts club room. A chill crawled up her spin, and she had the feeling she was being followed. She turned around but saw nothing. There was something about the air around her that made her uneasy. She turned back around and continued walking. There was no need to be paranoid… no need for it right now. Ayame's hopes to hold strong were dashed when another chill sent goose bumps up her arms. She spun around and shouted, "Leave me alone, dammnit!"

Ayame gasped and was stunned. Standing there behind her was Ishida with his school bag and a finger on the bridge of his glasses.

"I didn't know I was bothering you," he said. "In fact, I'm merely on my way to the club, just as you are." Ishida started walking again. Ayame stood with her mouth hung slightly open, and stared at him as he walked right through the female spirit. She stepped aside to let him by and kept her eyes on the spirit. The spirit bawled. Ayame did not know if he knew the spirit was there or not; she turned and caught up to Ishida.

"I… I'm sorry," she muttered behind him.

He topped walking. Ayame did not notice and bumped into his back. As he turned around, she took one step back. "You need to learn to ignore the weak ones. They go away eventually." The spirit bawled even louder after what he said. Ayame had a look of shock. "Yes, I can sense them. But there are more dangerous things in this world, and I'm not about to be distracted by a weakling." Ishida turned back around and walked away. She watched him, ignoring the woman's spirit that floated away, and was frustrated.

So, he's like that, huh? She thought.

Ayame followed a couple feet behind Ishida, and made sure to not stare at him. They got to the club and separated. Ayame took out her scarf and started crocheting more rows. Only a few minutes into the club time, a familiar feeling came over her. She looked out the classroom window and up to the sky outside. Something was wrong, or about to go wrong. As she sat there in a trance-like state, Ishida stopped his sewing and left the room. He was already gone by the time Ayame snapped out of her daze.

Some of the girls whispered among themselves. "Where is Ishida going?"

"I don't know, but he looks to be in a hurry."

Ayame spontaneously stood up, gathered her things into her bag, and followed Ishida out of the classroom. If he was up to something, she had an odd urge to know what. He could sense spirits like she could. Perhaps he had sensed the same thing back from inside the classroom? She ran to the shoe lockers and changed to her regular shoes. Ishida was already gone from the school, but she caught sight of him as he turned a corner down the street. The feeling of being watched came over her. There was neither a person nor thing nearby from what she could see.

She stopped at a three-way sidewalk intersection. The sky was darkening, and she was several minutes away from her grandparents' house. Her attention lied elsewhere, on Ishida and the grim feeling filling her senses. Goose bumps invaded every inch of her body as the feeling intensified. A paranoid thought came to her: something's behind, watching every move she made. Ayame turned around to face her fear. The fear turned out to be a grotesque figure with a white mask and a gaping hole in its chest.

"You smell tasty," it said without moving its mouth. A thick purple tongue emerged to lick lips that were not there. On all fours, it slowly stepped closer to her. Ayame was backed toward a wall. She lost her footing and fell onto her bottom. Her bag jumbled around on the ground until it stopped about a foot away from her; some of the contents such as papers and pencils scattered on the ground. She gasped sharply and crawled away with wide eyes. "E-he-he-he," the evil thing chortled, "Want to make this fun? For me, not you." Its tongue flicked up, saliva dripped from the tip.

Ayame froze on the spot. A scream built up inside her chest, but her throat was too dry to let it out. The next moment happened so fast that Ayame became light-headed. A blue, glowing arrow cut through the masked being, and it dissipated within seconds. There was not much daylight left when the light of the arrow disappeared. Ayame sat up and put a hand to her forehead. Feet approached her from the right. It was impossible to tell who it was with her hand massaging her temples. But when the person spoke, she knew immediately who stopped next to her.

"You shouldn't be out here by yourself."

"I-Ishida-kun!" Ayame removed her hand from her forehead to look up at him. He was not wearing the school uniform anymore. What he wore looked like some sort of costume. Ishida wore a white high-collared tunic and white pants. The clothing was a bit form-fitting. Ayame's eyes went straight from his face to the glowing blue bow-like form in his right hand. It disappeared before her eyes. Before she had the chance to figure out what to say, Ishida reached out a hand to her. Hesitantly, she took it. He helped her to her feet as any gentleman would do for a lady who had fallen down. When she placed her sight on his eyes, she felt warmth ignite from within. There was something different she saw in them than she had earlier before the club meeting. His expression was softer, but Ishida still held an air of someone who thought he was better than others. "Uhm." Ayame was afraid to say something wrong but settled with a simple, "thank you."

Ishida let go of her hand, and started to pick up her bag. He handed it over to her once he was done. "Why were you following me?"

Ayame took her bag and held it to her chest. She diverted her eyes to stare at the ground. "I… I was curious."

He looked down at her, fixing his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose. "Curious? Coming out here, following me around at this time of day with dangers lurking around… that's not curiosity – that's stupidity."

She looked up quickly, offended at being called stupid. "It's not stupid!" Ayame abruptly fell silent. Her heart stopped. Ishida reached out a hand toward her. Swinging from his wrist was a cross, like hers, from a thin silver chain. "What… is that?" She followed the movement of the charm with her eyes.

"I'm honestly surprised, maybe a little offended, that you don't know what it is," he started answering. "You're wearing the same thing around your neck. On top of that, your spirit energy signature is similar to my own." He closed the hand into a fist, and then brought it gently down into the open palm of his other hand. "Let me ask you a question." Ishida did not wait to be given permission to ask his question. "Do you know about the Quincy?"

"Quincy?"

Ishida nodded and looked at her. "I thought I was the last one, but here you are."

Almost all of the colour drained from her face. "A Quincy? What is that?"

He hesitated to answer. Instead of replying to her question, he changed the subject. "You should be getting home now. It's getting late." After pointing out the obvious, he offered to escort her home. "Just in case something else jumps out for you, I will be close." The colour returned to Ayame's face, but it darkened to a blush when she looked into his eyes again.

"That… would be nice."

They started walking side-by-side. With Ishida to her right, her right hand tingled. It had a mind of its own – it wanted to be held by another hand. But she kept it gripped around the strap of her bag with her other hand. The night sky seemed to be filled with brighter shining stars, and the Spring wind more crisp than before.

Despite his adamant rejection to come inside the house, Ishida reluctantly took the offer of a cup of green tea. Ayame's grandfather somehow convinced the boy to stay for a little longer. He sat on the couch in his form-fitting outfit with an uneasy air. Ayame was not used to bringing home anyone home. The first person she ever brought to the house and it happens to be her male classmate Ishida Uryuu. She sat next to him, her hands on her knees and her head tilted down.

"What do you do outside school?" Grandfather Kawano asked. He sat in a cushioned seat adjacent to the couch.

Grandmother Kawano came into the room from the kitchen with a tray of tea cups and a steaming kettle. She had a big grin on her face. Not just any old grin, either. It was the kind that many women had on their face when they were planning something. Ayame and Ishida took a cup of tea for themselves. Ayame was just as uncomfortable as Ishida at the questioning. She interrupted her grandfather's talking by standing up and clearing her throat.

"I'm sure Ishida-kun has somewhere important to be," she said. She placed her cup of tea back down on the tray that was positioned in front of the couch on a short table. Her sigh came out heavier than she wanted. Ayame moved to leave the couch and stand behind it, waiting for Ishida. He put his cup down, stood and then bowed, then followed Ayame to the front door. The two of them stood outside for a moment.

She sighed. "I'm sorry. I've never had a friend over before." He said nothing, so she continued. "Can I ask something? What is a… Quincy?"

"We… I… destroy any Hollow that threatens an innocent life."

"What does this have to do with being a Quincy?" Ayame picked up her Celtic cross from its resting place above her chest. She noticed how Ishida could not help but look at it.

He took a moment to gather how to answer her question. "It's what allows a Quincy to create a bow out of spirit energy gathered from surroundings." Ishida hesitated and looked into her eyes. "I'd like to tell you more, but I'm not sure how much you're interested and willing to sacrifice after learning everything I can tell you." The night fell silent around them. Crickets did not chirp, but the wind blew across the grass and through the trees. She thought for a moment that Ishida could hear the increased pounding of her heart. Ayame had thought about it during their time inside and on the way to her grandparent's house. She reached behind her neck and unclasped her necklace. It gathered into a small pile on her open palm. Her hesitation dragged the silence.

When she looked from her cross to Ishida, there was a wordless acknowledgement between them. He took the necklace from her, raised her left hand, and then quietly looped the chain around her wrist. "Once you've decided if you want to commit to a responsibility, don't back down." Ishida finished what he was doing, but held on a little longer to her hand. "Keep this with you, and don't remove it from your wrist. Meet me after school. We'll talk more then."


	4. Promises Not Kept: Part One

If you haven't yet, check out my friend VanityIre's Harry Potter fanfic! I have not gotten around to reading it because I am occupied with my own writing at the moment. I am extremely positive that her fanfic is worth reading, because she is a very good writer!

I do not own Bleach or its canon, only the non-canon in the fanfiction.

A/N: I am still behind, but catching up, to the word count I am supposed to have. It is a tedious process. I go back and forth between the anime, the Bleach Wiki, and Word. Everytime I watch the anime, I will rewind to re-read the subtitles to write the dialogue in the fanfiction. This makes it a very slow process for my writing. But I don't always do that, like last night I had a sudden burst of creativity and wrote what came to my mind instead of in the anime. ANYWAYS ... I do NOT edit this for the fact that this is for NANOWRIMO - editing is pretty much a taboo for NaNoWriMo participants.

This entry has 3,408 words.

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><p><strong>Chapter Four: Promises Not Kept: Part One<strong>

Ayame walked into the classroom the next morning with a light bounce in her step. She was ready for the day's first lessons. There was something about what happened last night that made her giddy. She did as Ishida told her to do and never removed her cross from her wrist at all after their talk. When lunch came around, her mind was floating in the clouds. She was not aware of the glances students gave her. Not like they bothered her at all.

Orihime walked to her side and asked, "You seem awfully cheerful today. Something happen yesterday? You left the club really early."

Ayame chewed and then swallowed her last bite of sushi. She looked up at Orihime with a big stupid grin. "Nothing happened, I just feel really happy today!" A person entered her view, and she stood up. Ishida left the classroom with his lunch. She realized how often he would leave the classroom during lunch, but she did not know where he ate. Before she gathered her mind to make a move, she was blocked from moving by Honshō. The female student bent down to emphasize where she was looking.

"Oh~ Kawano, what happened to your necklace?"

Ayame blinked and looked shocked anyone would notice such a thing. Of course, she had come to know that Honshō Chizuru had interests in a couple of the female students, especially in Orihime. It made sense that she would being looking at Ayame's chest, and therefore see the necklace and Celtic cross. "Oh." She lifted her left hand and lightly touched her chest. "I felt like wearing it differently." The cross dangled, reflecting sunlight beaming in from the open windows.

"Doesn't Uryū wear something like that on his wrist, too?" Ogawa Michiru asked after appearing between the other two girls.

"What?" Honshō sounded stunned by this.

Orihime was silent, and remembered something. "He does. He's had it for as long as I can remember."

"What could this mean?" Honshō inquired.

Ogawa spoke over Honshō as she continued chittering. "Ayame, do you like Ishida?" Ayame looked to Ogawa with a question on her face. "I saw you two leave the Handicrafts Club room yesterday. Are you seeing him?" Honshō fell silent and the three girls stared at Ayame, pressuring her to answer.

"Ano…" She could tell the truth, but she was afraid. During the only times they talked, Ishida did not show much interest in her. To her, he seemed rather uninterested until last night. Even then, however, he seemed more interested in the fact she could be what he called a Quincy. There was nothing scarier than rejection on Ayame's mind right now if she said yes. "Ano… I have only talked to him a few times. We just happened to leave at the same time yesterday. He just made a suggestion to wear my charm around my wrist the other day, but I didn't move it until this morning." A little white lie never hurt anyone. Ayame, however, did feel a pain in her chest like a pin was moving toward her heart.

"That sounds like Ishida," Orihime said. Honshō let out a sigh, and Ogawa looked slightly disappointed. "Hey, we still have a few minutes left for lunch! We should do something!"

Ayame blinked. "What did you have in mind?"

"We could make a game up!"

"Orihime, every time you create a game it makes no sense." A girl with dark, spiked hair approached their group. "Besides, we've got phys ed next. We should be cleaning up and letting our stomachs settle before exercising."

"Oh, okay, Tatsuki."

Every student in the class was outside in the physical education uniforms. Ayame tugged at her white shirt as she stood in a line with her classmates. She felt a little underdressed because the gym shorts were not something she wore regularly. Kagine-sensei called out the role, and then told everyone that they would be doing track and field for the entire class. A few students grumbled in aggravation but were ignored. The girls and boys were split up between the activities: girls began with jumping and the boys ran around the track. Ayame joined the line of girls and then sighed. Today the sun was high and the day hot. Nearby, Honshō was latched onto Orihime and drowning her in compliments about her figure and how cute she always will be in any clothing. Ayame looked away from the girls to find Ishida. He was standing with Kurosaki Ichigo and the other guys, getting ready to run. The sound of people walking toward her caught her attention. She stopped fidgeting with her shirt when Orihime and the others huddled around her.

"So who's going first?" Honshō asked.

Tatsuki straightened up, "I'll go first!"

None of the girls argued with her. Tatsuki was the one girl in their class that was best at sports. The girls stepped back to give Tatsuki some room. Ayame watched Tatsuki approach the rectangular sand pit at a run. She landed ankles-first before falling to the sand. Measurements were taken, and Tatsuki dismissed. The sand pit was touched up to make it usable by the next person. Ayame was not next in line, and she would not be jumping anytime soon. Several girls were assigned to jump before her. This gave her some extra time to watch the guys.

Like the girls, some guys stood in small groups. Ishida stood off on his own, but was not preparing to run. "Hey, Ayame!" A female classmate approached her with a bright smile. "Who're you looking at?" The question might as well have been rhetorical. The classmate was not someone Ayame knew well. She brought her attention back to the guys when her classmate was finished talking.

"I was just wondering if that's Kurosaki's natural hair colour," she lied.

Her classmate did not appear to have recognized a lie when it was told. It was Tatsuki who answered her question, however, responding with, "That is his real hair. No dye or anything." She took a drink of water from a clear plastic bottle. "It's definitely got him into a lot of trouble in the past." Ayame glanced from Kurosaki to Orihime. Orihime had a smile on her face. Ayame was curious if she had or ever would see Orihime frown. Smiling all the time made Ayame assume the fellow student was an airhead.

"Okay, Kawano Ayame, you're up!"

Ayame froze and dreaded having to do the long jump. So far, only Tatsuki had jumped and landed the furthest from the edge of the sand. The others that jumped before Ayame dropped short, maybe half the distance Tatsuki jumped. She walked up to the starting line, prepared to make a sprint, and waited for the signal to start. When Tatsuki shouted "Go!", Ayame sprinted and then ran. She jumped at the edge of the sand, and in less than two seconds landed ankle-first in the sand and landed on her butt. Before she moved, one of the others told her to sit still for measurements. When it was read off, a couple of girls gasp in awe at the reading. Ayame had landed just short of Tatsuki's jump by a few inches. She stood up and brushed the sand off her bottom after she was allowed to move. By the time she looked back over to the guys, Ishida was already running down the track. He looked to be in a race against Kurocaki – though the run was not meant to be a race at all for today's class.

It was time to switch activities. Some were relieved. As the girls and guys passed each other, some stopped to talk. Ayame was hoping Ishida would say hello to her. She paused to raise a hand and say hello, but he passed by with a serious and determined look on his face. Her hello came out as a hushed sound and her hand became limp as she put it down to her side. Something worried her. What made him change from the gentleman last night? Vengeance shot daggers from his face to someone who had passed her by before he did.

Ayame was called to line up on the track with Orihime, Honshō, Ogawa, and Tatsuki. At the sound of a whistle, they went off at a run. All of them were able t okeep up with each other for a short distance. Tatsuki, Honshō, Orihime, and Ayame broke off from Ogawa as she could not keep up the pace. Soon, Honshō was slowing down. Ayame, Orihime, and Tatsuki stayed together, but it was Orihime who ended up getting to the starting line first.

"Oh~! Orihime~! I knew you could do it!" Honshō jogged up to Orihime and squeezed her in a hug. Tatsuki had to pry Honshō off of Orihime. Ayame bent over, her hands on her knees, and tried to catch her breath. Beads of sweat dripped down the sides of her face. Watching the girls made her chuckle. She suddenly felt that she never really took the time to get to know the girls more. Ayame's happy expression faded into one of melancholy thought. It had been a month since she had started school in Karakura, but she did not know anyone on a friendly level. She made a promise to herself to be more open to her classmates. A close friend would come in handy some day, and she was not sure how much she would be able to confide in Ishida. The order to see her after school came back to her. Ayame fought with herself to not read it as anything it could not be; she wanted to be realistic and not jump to conclusions too soon about their sort-of relationship.

The rest of the day dragged on forever. It seemed like only minutes had passed, after returning to the classroom from physical education, once school was over. Ayame skipped going to the Handicraft Club and headed straight for the shoe lockers. Ishida was already waiting for her. "Come with me."

He walked her away from the school. "Kawano-san… you can see spirits, right?" Ishida had his back to her. Her eyes glanced at everything around them. The area looked safe. No one was around to see them; no one to make an assumption out of nothing. She realized that she was over-reacting and decided to take a pause to breath before answering.

"Yes, I can."

Ishida stopped and turned around to face her. "Follow me, and I'll tell you more about what I said last night." Ayame was confused. Was she not already following him? There was no mistake that he tried to act cool in school, but some of the things he said were not cool. She walked a few steps behind him. They came to some stairs. Once they reached the top, Ishida stopped. Before she could ask why, he spoke loudly. "Do you plan on following us forever?"

She was spooked, and turned around. Ayame found that Kurosaki had followed them all this way.

Kurosaki stood at the bottom of the stairs, holding his bag over a shoulder. "You knew? When did you notice me?"

Ishida looked over his shoulder and down to Kurosaki. "I knew from the time you and Inoue-san spied on me from the door."

"Sugoi, I'm impressed!"

"You're an idiot. You fail to restrain your spiritual energy." He was turned around to face Kurosaki completely. Ayame was stuck between them. She looked from Ishida to Kurosaki and back to Kurosaki. What was she supposed to do? She was afraid to move at all. If she moved, the tension could possibly direct to her at the slightest movement or sound. Ishida adjusted his glasses before continuing. "You're clearly not aware of this. You lack the ability to detect anyone with a high spiritual energy." Ayame blinked and thought about this. She herself had not noticed his spiritual energy until the moment she saw him. The spiritual energy from Ishida was barely noticeable, opposite of Kurosaki's. "It's no surprise at all that you haven't noticed me until now."

"My apologies," Kurosaki said rather sarcastically, "but I've never been good with remembering faces."

"That's not what I'm talking about." Ishida pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "Since the first day of school, I've known you had an unusually high level of spiritual energy." A look of alarm flashed across Kurosaki's face. "And I know that you became a Soul Reaper sometime in May. And… I know who Kuchiki Rukia really is." In the next moment, the area darkened and bright white ribbons, faintly glowing blue, were summoned around Ishida and Ayame. Both Ayame and Kurosaki gasped. They shared an expression of awe and fear. Ayame moved one foot back to hug closer to the wall, but found that she would not allow herself to leave the scene. She looked to Ishida. He had his hands on his hips, and the light from the ribbons made it impossible to see his eyes behind his glasses. It was easy to tell he was still looking down at Kurosaki with an annoyed and disapproving glare.

"Spirit ribbons?"

"Yes, spirit ribbons." Ishida continued. "The compression and manifestation of spirit energy in the atmosphere. And…" Ayame blinked, and Ishida was standing in front of Kursaki. She did not know how he got down there so fast. Kurosaki looked genuinely surprised at the move.

"Ishida-kun!" Ayame gasped.

He would not look away from Kurosaki to respond to her. The Quincy did not respond to her outburst at all. Instead, he grabbed a spot in the air between him and Kurosaki. A ribbon like the others, but coloured a bright red, appeared in Ishida's closed hand before Kurosaki's face. "Your spirit ribbon…" He stared at his classmate, still unamused by his confusion. Without hesitation, he ripped the ribbon in half. "Don't tell me you don't know. The ribbon of a Soul Reaper is a different colour." The red ribbon dissipated into thin air. Soon, the rest of the ribbons disappeared and the area was as it was before. "I challenge you, Kurosaki Ichigo, to a duel. We'll see who is stronger – me or you."

Ayame repeated, "Ishida-kun!" But he would not stop.

"It will also show that Soul Reapers aren't necessary in this world."

Kurosaki looked at Ishida with growing frustration. The tension in the air weighed down on Ayame. She looked from Kurosaki to Ishida repeatedly. Her hand was close to her mouth, and a finger raised slightly to show her fright. Ayame had begun to panic. What would happen if they started the fight right here and now? Should she try to stop it? If she did, she had no idea what would happen to her. Her attempt might have no effect at all, either. Kurosaki tsked and said, "A duel?"

"Correct."

There was a pause that made the tension heavier. Ayame blurted out, "What're you guys doing? Can't we all just get along? Don't fight right now!" She made exaggerated hand gestures when she spoke.

"Ayame." She froze and dropped her arms to her sides. Ishida did not move anything but his eyes to look at her. "If you want to learn, you should stay back and observe." Ayame felt a little upset, if not offended in some way. And here she was, beginning to enjoy her time with Ishida. If Kurosaki had not been following, this would not have occurred. She shut her mouth and gritted her teeth.

"I think you should listen to Kawano-san," Kurosaki responded. He then shouted, "This duel sounds stupid! Why should I have to do something ridiculous like that?" He folded his arms and continued, "I don't know why you have a grudge against Soul Reapers, but it's nothing to do with me."

"You're actually trying to get out of it? That's unexpected."

"What are you trying to do, Ishida-kun?" Ayame gasped and put her hands to her mouth immediately, realizing she may have said something wrong.

Kurosaki glanced toward Ayame. "It would be no contest to see who is stronger. Besides, I don't want to embarrass you in front of your girlfriend." He turned to walk away.

Unaffected by Kurosaki's remark, Ishida fired back. "I see now. You received your powers from Kuchiki-san," he adjusted his glasses again, "which means you're merely a substitute Soul Reaper. Without her command, you can't do anything." This stopped Kurosaki in his tracks. He looked over his shoulders, taking the bait. Ayame was stuck between thick tensions once again. Her eyes were wide with the fear of not knowing what to do or what would happen next. Then, Kurosaki opened his bag.

"All right, then, let's get to it." He had a mischievous smile as he pulled out a Ponkichi plush doll. The first thought that rang through Ayame's mind was: What kind of guy carries a stuffed animal with him?

She watched, stunned by what she witnessed. The Ponkichi doll started talking – yelling at Kurosaki, to be exact. Her inner girl could not resist the cuteness of the doll, but hearing it talk horrified her and overshadowed the cuteness factor as it continued to talk. Dolls are certainly not supposed to talk! "Cough it up, Kon." The stuffed animal exclaimed something in horror, and then Kurosaki forced his hand into its mouth. This feat did not look possible at all – Ayame knew that most stuffed animals did not have throats. The doll fell dead silent when the pill was removed. Kurosaki held a small green pill between his fingers after he removed his hand. He cleaned it as best he could on his shirt before popping it into his mouth. Once he swallowed it, Kurosaki split into two. One was the everyday Kurosaki in his school uniform, and the other was in period clothing with an over-sized katana. Kurosaki stood confidently. Ayame could swear she saw a smirk at the corner of his lips. "Kon, watch me kick his ass!" The other Kurosaki did not reply. He had caught sight of Ayame and rushed for her.

"Hello pretty lady!" He gave her a lecherous grin as he petted her left hand. "It's gonna get rough pretty soon. What say I take you somewhere safe and far away from here?"

Ayame was spooked by how fast he went from crouching on the ground feet away to holding her hand. She did not hesitate to drop her bag and throw a punch at his chest with her free hand. Her fist made contact. The possessed Kurosaki felt the hit, but did not flinch. He let go of her hand. Ishida and Kurosaki looked at the two of them with wide eyes. Ayame's face turned a bright red. She blurted out, "I'm not going anywhere, and there'll be no duel!" She turned to Ishida. "I thought you were going to teach me about the Quincy. Now, there's something called a Soul Reaper?" Ayame had obviously snapped somewhere between the beginning of the encounter with Kurosaki and being flirted with by a possessed body. She suddenly froze on the spot. Her head felt heavy, so she dropped it a little. "S-s-sumimasen. I think I'll just go home now." Fearing she made an idiot of herself in front of the two guys, Ayame picked up her bag and then turned on her heels. She ran as far as she could before stopping to catch her breath. Ayame reflected on what happened.

At first, she actually thought highly about Ishida… admiring him as a stalker would. She realized how uninterested he really was in her and how much more concerned he was in his own agenda. Ayame rushed to the conclusion that if she was a Quincy, she would have to figure things out on her own. She focused on the Celtic cross dangling from her wrist. It was of more importance than she had imagined – that much she knew. The image of Ishida saving her from an attack the other day flashed before her eyes. Ayame concentrated on his wrist, and the bow formed out of spirit energy in his hand. Another conclusion was rushed: the cross was her sorce of power. Ayame straighten up, dusted herself off, and headed for her grandparents' house.

That night, after a quick dinner and a shower, she started searching the internet for anything about spiritual energy and the Quincy.


	5. Promises Not Kept: Part Two

If you haven't yet, check out my friend VanityIre's Harry Potter fanfic! I am extremely positive that her fanfic is worth reading, because she is a very good writer!

I do not own Bleach or its canon, only the non-canon in the fanfiction.

A/N: I do NOT edit this for the fact that this is for NANOWRIMO - editing is pretty much a taboo for NaNoWriMo participants. I admit that I rushed the ending part of this chapter. Because NaNoWriMo is more about quantity than quality, I am trying to find a way to have quality without dragging the story on. Thank yo for the reviews, everyone!

This entry has 2,251 words.

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><p><strong>Chapter Five: Promises Not Kept: Part Two<strong>

Her research came up short of anything relating to information about the Quincy, but she did find some things about spirit energy. A few articles idolized Don Kanonji. She took the time to read them. None of them were as specific as she wanted them to be about spirit energy. They were, for the most part, praise for Don Kanonji's show and his techniques. She found a less idol-centric website. It helped a lot: telling about what spirit energy is and what kind. There were links leading to sites about spiritual rituals and items. She was drawn to one of these sites. The author wrote instructions on proper meditation techniques, but what caught her interest was a section about harnessing spirit energy. Ayame tried to connect what she read with what she saw in Ishida's hand. She looked down at her cross. One thought lead to another, and she believed she understood what kind of power she had.

After clearing the center of her room, Ayame stood quietly at the center. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths to clear her mind. Breathing deeply did help, and she opened her eyes when she felt her mind was free of any disrupting thoughts. Clearing her mind would turn out to be the easiest part of the practice. Next came focusing on the spirit energy around her. Ayame concentrated on the energy she could read, and formed the image of a bow in her left hand. She waivered her concentration when she noticed the cross hanging from her wrist take a mind of its own. It swayed and then froze in a position parallel to her wrist. In seconds, a blue light in the shape of a bow appeared in her hand. Ayame was mesmerized by it. Her concentration broke as she gaped at the sight. Wavering thoughts caused the bow to disappear. She cleared her throat and tried again. This time, she was able to hold the spirit energy in the bow form.

After clearing the center of her room, Ayame stood quietly at the center. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths to clear her mind. Breathing deeply did help, and she opened her eyes when she felt her mind was free of any disrupting thoughts. Clearing her mind would turn out to be the easiest part of the practice. Next came focusing on the spirit energy around her. Ayame concentrated on the energy she could read, and formed the image of a bow in her left hand. She waivered her concentration when she noticed the cross hanging from her wrist take a mind of its own. It swayed and then froze in a position parallel to her wrist. In seconds, a blue light in the shape of a bow appeared in her hand. Ayame was mesmerized by it. Her concentration broke as she gaped at the sight. Wavering thoughts caused the bow to disappear. She cleared her throat and tried again. This time, she was able to hold the spirit energy in the bow form.

An animalistic shriek came from outside. A giant crash followed soon after. The bow in Ayame's hand disappeared and she ran to her window. She opened the window then stuck her head out to look around the block. Not too far away was a damaged building. Ayame looked down at the ground. It was only the second story. She put on a brave face and then jumped from the ledge of her window. The landing was rough because she fell back on a hip despite hitting the ground feet-first. "Itai!" She made a pained face as she rubbed her sore hip. The animalistic shriek sounded again. Whatever it was was still in the area. Suddenly, Ayame felt an impending doom. There were many different sources of spirit energy emerging from the sky - and they were not the good kind. "What's going on?"

Ayame sharply turned around to come face to face with a masked being nearly four times her size. She screamed at the top of her lungs, and then bolted around. There was no doubt that the creature would catch up to her easily but she still ran as fast as she could away from it. She turned one corner and it followed. It demolished the side of a building as it chased after her, laughing all the way. "Run, little rabbit, run!" it cackled. Ayame panted more the further she ran. She found a quick place to stop and catch her breath. Then, without putting much thought into her actions, walked out of her hiding spot brandishing the glowing bow she successfully conjured back in her room.

"Come at me!" she shouted. The masked beast chortled and then jumped toward her. All she had to do next was compress spirit energy into the form of an arrow, and launch it. She did just that before the thing landed on top of her. Ayame gazed with wide eyes as it dissolved into particles and vanished. "I… Oh my God." Her heart was pounding a mile a minute. The legs beneath her grew weak. She fell to her knees, shaking from the encounter. Her panic was cut short when she sensed another dark source of spirit energy. How many more were out there? It was not hard to imagine the numbers, but she masked her fear with hope that whatever was happening would end soon without tragedy.

A recognizable energy signature caught her attention. She ran toward it, and discovered the person just as he sliced one of the things cleanly in half. "Kurosaki-kun!" His attention was drawn to her. The expression on his face was one of surprise. He did not appear to understand what she was doing outside at a time like this.

"Where did you come from? It's not safe out here!"

She ran up to him before he could run off. "I was at home when of those things attacked a neighbor's house." Ayame did not hesitate to follow behind him to his next destination. "What are these things, anyways?"

"They're Hollows – souls that have only basic instinct left."

"What are they doing here?"

"They feast on souls that haven't moved on, and occasionally someone with a high level of spirit energy." He stopped when a Hollow emerged from the next street. Without thinking twice, Kurosaki jumped forward and sliced the arm off. Ayame shot an arrow straight at its mask. "What the hell was that?" He turned around and glared at her. The look turned to shock when he saw the weapon she held.

She gasped sharply. "I-I-I-I panicked!"

"You're just like him." He dropped the blade of his sword to the ground. A snarl distorted his face for a moment. "Whatever, just stay out of my way and leave the Hollows to me. I'm going to show him who's stronger!" Ayame nodded, understanding his ambition. Another Hollow cried out on another block not too far away. "Damn it!" Kurosaki looked to be in a hurry to get somewhere. She could only guess he had his reasons to reluctantly fight the Hollows other than merely to show who is stronger. Ayame followed Kurosaki down the sidewalk to an open street. They encountered three huge Hollows, bigger than the ones she had seen before. She separated from him after he escaped two of them and gave the third a major injury.

Ayame stopped in an open area. There no Hollows around, but she suddenly felt one of the most horrifying energy signatures she had ever felt. She looked up at the sky toward the biggest black rift. Roars, shrieks, and all sorts of beast-like cries rang out over Karakura Town. Her trance was cut short by the appearance of several Hollows. Two walked in front of the others. Their masks smiling as they chuckled. "S-stay away!" Ayame drew up her bow and shot an arrow at one of the Hollows. The others were brave enough to leap forward and run toward her. Her heart pounded against her ribs, but she continued to shot one arrow after another at each individual Hollow. When one went done, another appeared. "What's going on?" She continued attacking the Hollows. The exertion of her untrained stamina began taking its toll on her physically: her fingers began bleeding from thin cuts forming an the pads.

She decided to turn and run from the scene. The Hollows followed her until she turned a corner and bumped into Ishida. "I-Ishida-kun!" she gasped. Her bow was gone, but the fingers of her right hand were still bleeding. She used her right arm to brush the sweat off her brow. Ishida looked surprised at the sight; he did not expect her to have managed enough arrows to protect herself long enough from the number of Hollows that followed her. "The Hollows... they're spawning everywhere!"

"I know," he replied. "Stand back." Ishida stepped forward, drew up his bow, and started picking off the Hollows one-by-one. By the time he finished, his Hollow death count was twenty-two. He turned around and asked Ayame if she knew where Kurosaki was. She replied that he was on his way toward the park. Ayame followed Ishida and made sure to stay behind by a couple of feet. There was no doubt that she felt an awkward silence was wedged between them. When they got to the park, Kurosaki was by himself surrounded by Hollows. Ishida cleared himself a path toward the Soul Reaper with a barrage of arrows. Scared, Ayame stayed back and tried to hide her spirit energy to not draw attention to herself. Close by, she saw Kuchiki Rukia, a student her transferred to the school before Ayame did. She was kneeling with a look of panic plastered to her face. Next to her was a man in a robe and hat, and he had a cane in his hand.

"Kuchiki-san! Kuchiki-san!" Ayame ran toward her classmate. The girl shouted back to Ayame; however, Ayame continued to run toward her.

"Kawano-san! Stay back! It's dangerous!"

Ayame stopped a foot or so away from Kuchiki and the man with the hat and cane. "Kuchiki-san, what's wrong?" She finally noticed why Kuchiki was kneeling, and she looked to be in pain as well as shock.

"I'm fine, but I should be asking what you're doing here."

The cane-and-hat man spoke up but kept his gaze forward. "Don't tell me you didn't notice." Kuchiki gave him an annoyed and confused look. He did not flinch to look back or point out what he knew.

"Kuchiki-san, Kurosaki-kun and Ishida-kun... they're fighting Hollows. And Ishida-kun's bleeding!" Ayame did notice that Ishida's fingers were bleeding, too. She could tell from reading his spirit energy that he was getting weaker. His stamina seemed to be greater than hers, however, because he proved to hold out longer than she could. The Hollows swarmed around one area - two people at the center of the park - and Ayame stayed back at a safe distance with Kuchiki and the man with the cane and hat. Hollows on the ground and in the air looked upward to the sky. Ayame followed their gazes, and found the biggest rift in the sky getting bigger. She heard Ishida and Kurosaki shout at each other. There was something about Ishida's reasons for doing all of this, but she could not make out anything clearly. The Hollow numbers continued to grow as Ishida and Kurosaki continued eliminating individual ones.

A heavy spiritual pressure crushed the surrounding area. Everyone turned their eyes up to the rift. A bony hand emerged from the black void. "It can't be!" Rukia sounded out of breath. "A Menos Grande? I've never seen one outside textbooks before…." The smaller Hollows scattered when the Menos Grande reached down for a handful of Hollows. It ate what Hollows it got its hands on. Ayame watched as Kurosaki ran forward and slashed at its giant foot, but he was kicked aside like a rag. She gasped and put her hands over her mouth when she saw how Ishida's summoned bow takes on gigantic proportions. It almost dwarfed him and Ichigo. Suddenly, the Menos Grande blasted a ray of red energy toward Ishida and Kurosaki. Kurosaki reacted quickly, shielding the blast with his giant katana.

"Kurosaki-kun!" Ayame cried out to him, but no one could hear her.

The blast was disrupted and vanished. Kurosaki growled and slashed his sword vertically down. This caused a huge cut to appear down half the Menos Grande's body. The Menos Grande retreated, and the Hollows in the area followed. Kurosaki collapsed after shouting "Victory!" at the top of his lungs. Suddenly, his katana began to vibrate and warp. The only thing Ayame could see now was Ishida's bow, now even larger than before, being used to shoot gigantic arrows into the sky. The more arrows let loose into the sky, the less spirit energy Ayame felt coming from Kurosaki. When everything seemed safe, Ishida picked Kurosaki up and brought him over to the Ayame, Kuchiki, and the cane and hat man. Ayame looked at Kurosaki then Ishida with worry in her eyes. She was still upset at Ishida, but what just happened brought on a quiet sadness inside and the realization that she still had some feelings for Ishida; she wanted to help tend to his wounds seeing as they were worse than before and stretched up his entire arm. They all, however, went their separate ways back home.


	6. A Nightly Walk

If you haven't yet, check out my friend VanityIre's Harry Potter fanfic!

I do not own Bleach or its canon, only the non-canon in the fanfiction.

A/N: I do NOT edit this for the fact that this is for NANOWRIMO - editing is pretty much a taboo for NaNoWriMo participants. Because NaNoWriMo is more about quantity than quality, I am trying to find a way to have quality without dragging the story on. This may cause some parts to feel rushed or unfinished. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

This entry has 3,287 words.

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><p><strong>Chapter Six: A Nightly Walk<strong>

Ayame came to class with her hands bandaged, but still wore her cross around her wrist. She chewed on the eraser end of her pencil. When she got home last night, she avoided seeing her grandparents. They would worry about what happened to her hands. She managed to avoid them in the morning, too, by waking up earlier and leaving before either of them could see her hands. Ayame sighed and took the pencil out of her mouth. Some of the students were outside playing an odd game for their free period. Kuchiki and Ayame were the only two left inside the classroom. She decided to work some more on her scarf (it was already about two feet long), and Kuchiki sat next to the windows where she watched the others out on the field. Kuchiki spooked Ayame by hopping off the desk she had been sitting on. It was only a guess that the others had packed everything up and were headed back to class. She put her scarf away and waited for the rest of the class to return.

Shortly after the next lesson started, Ishida entered the classroom. Everyone went quiet, except for a few hushed gasps, and the teacher froze to glance at him. "What happened to you Ishida?" she asked after several seconds.

"I fell down some stairs." He adjusted his glasses.

"Well, take your seat and class will continue."

All of the students did not seem to buy it, but the teacher acted as if she believed his story. Students whispered about what could have happened to him as he walked to his seat and long after he sat down. Ayame kept her hands in her lap. She did not want her own injuries to become known, and she was lucky no one had noticed them yet. When lunch period came around, she declined joining Orihime and the other girls for lunch outside. If she moved now, others would notice her bandaged hands. As usual, Asano makes a scene when asking Kurosaki to join him for lunch. She slowed her speed of putting her books away to listen to them. Kurosaki accepted, but only if he could invite someone. Ayame placed her hands back in her lap and stared at her bare desk. Not to her surprise, though she kept a straight face as she listened, Ishida declined. He preferred to eat alone - she observed this every school day before. Asano, Kurosaki, and Kojima left the classroom. Not many students stayed in class for lunch, so the room was fairly quiet. Ayame stared down at her hands and squeezed them together.

"Kawano-san." Ayame's eyes widened for a brief moment and her lips separated. "I want to apologise for yesterday." He paused to see if she would reply. She closed her mouth and put on a blank expression. "I take my role as a Quincy seriously, and I was hoping you would somehow understand if you witnessed the differences between a Quincy and Soul Reaper. If you found my approach unnerving, you could have left instead of standing there. There was no chance I was going to back down from my duel with Kurosaki-san." Ishida stopped to adjust his glasses. "I see you've managed to figure out how to harness the spirit energy and use it to your advantage," he said. "But by the looks of your hands, you can't hold out for very long. I hold my offer open to help you." She did not look up or make any move to acknowledge that she was listening to him. He left the classroom - she guessed to go find Kurosaki and eat with him, Asano, and Kojima.

"Ayame-san!" Orihime jumped up and waved Ayame down when she saw her classmate approahc the group of girls sitting under the shade of a tree. "We're so glad you decided to join us!"

Ayame smiled and sat next to Ogawa. She took out an onigiri and began to eat it one bite at a time. The girls began talking about Kurosaki; Ayame was not paying enough attention to completely understand what they were saying. Her mind was elsewhere, trying to figure out if she should take Ishida's apology as an actual apology or not an apology at all. He was sincere at first, but then she felt like he was saying it was, somehow, her fault for what happened. He did help her out afterwards when she was running from the Hollows that outnumbered her.

"Ayame-san?"

"Huh?" She looked up from her onigiri.

"You zoned out for a minute," Tatsuki said. "We've been trying to get your attention for a couple minutes."

Ayame lowered her onigiri and smiled. "I'm sorry. What was it you wanted?"

Ogawa spoke up, "We asked what happened to your hands. Did you fall down the stairs like Ishida-kun?" She put emphasis on the last sentence to show her sarcasm.

"Is Ayame-san thinking about Ishida-kun?" Orihime said with an interested expression.

"N-n-nani?" Ayame's face turned a deep red.

"Well, youre wearing bandages just like Ishida-kun. Were you guys together when it happened?" Ogawa added. Ayame looked to Kuchiki and had a flashback to the Menos Grande encounter last night. "Kawano-san?" She tilted her head.

Ayame's expression of embarrassment had disappeared. She blinked and put back on a smile. "No, I just hurt myself cooking last night." It was better that they did not know the truth. Kuchiki knew what happened, but Ayame could trust her not to mention anything about it. The subject was dropped when Honshō interrupted the silence with a discrete but perverse comment to Orihime. Tatsuki was quick to tackle the perverted girl to the ground and shout at her to shut up. Ayame and Kuchiki smiled and giggled with the others; however, Ayame noticed Kuchiki's expression change. She could understand what she may have been feeling, but not what she was thinking. The rest of lunch was spent planning things for tomorrow and the Fireworks Festival.

Everyone had left the Handicrafts Club except Ayame and Ishida. She had already finished several rows of her scarf but stopped to pack things up. The air was heavy with silence. It was uncomfortable for Ayame, because she was fighting with herself to figure out if she should say something to him. She had been debating most of the day about whether or not to ask to be his pupil. Now that they were alone, no time was better than now. Ayame took a deep breath and approached Ishida. He was finishing up a few stitches on his own project when she interrupted his concentration. "Ishida-kun," she paused to see if he was listening while he worked, "would you give me another chance? I would like to learn more, and become stronger." Ishida continued stitching. Ayame looked at her feet forlornly. "If I have the chance to, I would help protect people." She glanced up to see Ishida had stopped. He stood up, and she stepped one foot back.

"Kawano-san," he said as he put his thread and needle away. "Don't expect anything to be easy. It takes time to become strong. It could take you years to become as strong as I am." Ayame nodded, ignoring the pride he put in his words. "I will train you harder than my sensei trained me. I don't accept complaining or whining of any kind."

Ayame looked at him directly in the eyes. "Sou desu."

"All right, then," Ishida sat back down in his seat, "we can begin tonight, Kawano-san."

Kuchiki and Kurosaki burst into the room, the Ponkichi doll from yesterday in Kuchiki's hand. He and Kuchiki came up to Ishida's desk. "Uryū, fix Kon up, will you?"

"Why me?" he asked with an uninterested look on his face.

Kurosaki put a hand on his hip and answered, "I thought it was your specialty to fix things like this."

"I refuse to fix your doll."

"Why?"

"I don't have to answer." He began twisting loose string around a spool to save for future use.

"Oh! I know why!" Kurosaki put a fist in his open hand. "You can't do a thing with your hands like that!" Ayame saw Ishida's eyebrow twitch as the substitute Soul Reaper continued. "Can't even thread a needle, can you? Yeah, it's impossible..."

"Impossible? I'll show you my abilities!" Ishida took the bait, and grabbed for Kon. He threw the doll down on the top of his desk and fixed Kon in seconds. Not only did he fix Kon up, but he dressed him in an old Western dress with a wig of blond curls.

"What the - Who are you?" Kurosaki stared at the 'improved' Kon.

"He's all dressed up," Kuchiki said, not believing what she was looking at.

Ayame bit her lower lip to prevent herself from blurting out. It was funny, but at the same time she could not bring herself to laugh at Ishida. Kon began rampaging on top of the desk as Ishida started explaining what he did and how he improved him and what more he could do. It took some time for Kon to calm down, and then Kurosaki left with Kuchiki and Kon. Ayame was left with Ishida in the room. She cleaned up whatever needed to be put away and trashed unusable material. The two of them walked to the shoe lockers. Silence floated between them. Her skin crawled from anxiety and happiness. Ayame walked to the school fence. She turned around and waited for Ishida. He walked across the school yard toward her at his own pace. "What's first, Ishida-kun?"

He stopped once he got up next to her, and she took it as a sign to follow him. Ishida did not respond for some time until they were out of view of the school. "I'm sure you already know about the Quincy's weapon. It was something of a surprise that you could conjure your bow without help. You've done some research?" The wind picked up as the sun started falling from the sky. "The Quincy are humans with high spirit energy. There were once many of us, but 200 years ago the Quincy were wiped out by the Soul Reapers. Soul Reapers saw the Qunicy as a threat. Instead of sending a Hollow to the Soul Society, a Quincy completely destroys a Hollow." He paused. Ayame glanced up to him, wondering why he had stopped talking. "My grandfather was one of the last great Quincy before the Soul Reapers left him to die against a group of Hollows. I couldn't do anything, and since then, I've been doing everything I can to show the strength of the Quincy to the Soul Reapers. Last night, though, Kurosaki-san told me something I have considered." Ishida stopped walking and turned to Ayame. "I still hold prejudice against the Soul Reapers for what they did to my sensei, but what you think of the Soul Reapers should not be influenced by my view." Ayame nodded, and gestured for him to continue walking and talking. He got the hint and began talking again. "You see, there is a force that holds the human and spirit worlds in balance. The Soul Reapers keep this balance by purifying Hollows and sending spirits to the spirit world. Our power, a Quincy's power, completely destroys a Hollow. This causes an imbalance between the worlds which could ultimately bring an end to both worlds. My grandfather proposed that the remaining Quincy in the human world act as first-responders to a Hollow attack to protect those who might be harmed. The Quincy and Soul Reapers would be working together. He was monitored closely by the Soul Society, the community of Soul Reapers, but he died because they came two hours too late to get rid of the Hollows. It's from this careless act on their part that I hold a hatred for the Soul Reapers and Kurosaki-san."

Ayame looked up to the sky. She listened as he continued telling her about the Quincy. It felt strange to be the last Quincy. Were they really the only two left? A thought came then her face suddenly burned pink. Ishida did not seem to notice or care at the time. He said to Ayame before breaking off to walk to his home, "Get some rest." Ayame stayed in place to watch him leave. She walked the rest of the way home, alone. After she had dinner with her grandparents, she decided to go for a walk. The fresh air helped with a headache she had since school ended. It was hard to ignore some of the energy she detected all around her. There were few souls that wandered around tonight, though. That made things easier for her to relax.

Her mind wandered as she walked down the street. The stars twinkled above, and a street lamp blinked to her right. A dark figure walked toward her. She reached out her energy to see if she could recognise who it was. "Ishida-kun?" He looked up, and seemed to know already that it was her.

"Kawano-san," he greeted.

"What're you doing out so late?"

He hesitated to answer. Within that moment of hesitation, Ayame felt Kuchiki's energy and two unknown ones. The first thought Ayame had was if Kuchiki was all right. She turned down the street Kuchiki's energy signature came from. Ishida took her arm and looked down the street. He did not have to talk. Ayame could figure out what he was thinking. She followed him down the street. Ishida stopped, summoned his bow, and shot an arrow down the sidewalk. Ayame did not question this, and walked the rest of the way behind Ishida.

"It's not very nice to see two armed men attacking an unarmed girl," Ishida said when they were close enough to see the two Soul Reapers and Kuchiki.

"Kuchiki-san!" Ayame went to Kuchiki's side and kneeled beside her, hovering a hand over her classmate's shoulder. "Are you okay? What's going on?" She inhaled and understood when she saw the depression on Kuchiki's face.

The tattooed Soul Reaper bent forward. "You can see us? Just who are you?"

Isihida answered, "We're classmates." He paused before adding, "And… I hate Soul Reapers."

Kuchiki stood up, Ayame followed her to a standing position, and the first girl looked over her shoulder. "What are you two doing here?"

"A coincidence," Ishida replied. "Nothing for you to worry about. But, if you must know know…" He began making up a story about how he came to be here with Ayame. He was interrupted before he was finished. In the blink of an eye, the bag he was holding up was cut off from the handles.

"I asked you a question: who the hell are you?" When he was not given an answer right away, he lifted his sword from its resting position on his shoulder and pointed it at Ishida. "Well, you don't have to answer. I'll just kill both of you first!"

Kuchiki stepped between the Soul Reaper and her two classmates and shouted, "Wait, Renji! They have nothing to do with this!"

"I already gave you an answer you," Ishida said quickly. "Classmates of Kuchiki Rukia. And I'm the one who hates Soul Reapers."

"That's not a proper answer!"

Ishida closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them back up, the air about him was different. "I'm Ishida Uryū. Pleased to meet you." Ayame did not feel comfortable sharing her name with a stranger, especially one with a sword, and therefore remained silent.

"What's this…?"

"You may be a Soul Reaper, but you'd still like to know who killed you, right?" Ishida pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. He stared at the tattooed Soul Reaper with coldness.

The Soul Reaper began shaking, and then put a twisted, toothy smile on his face. "I've decided: I'm going to kill you!" Ayame and Kuchiki looked on with wide eyes when the Soul Reaper moved faster than Ayame could see. He managed to wound Ishida badly. Ishida fell down, in obvious pain, and his blood started pooling from his wound. Ayame held back the urge to scream. There was nothing she could do to help. Kuchiki turned back toward the Soul Reaper and was deep in thought. The hair on the back of Ayame's neck stood on end as the Soul Reaper stepped forward and raised his sword in one hand. "Now, for the final blow! Remember this, Ishida Uryū, the man who killed you is Abarai Renji.

"Wait!" Ayame and Kuchiki shouted in unison.

Before Abarai could deliver the final blow, the ground shook and cracked. His swing was interrupted by the fact that the ground he was on lifted up from the small tremor. He looked over his shoulder, and then jumped onto the railing of the fence. "Who are you?"

When the dust cleared, Ayame saw Kurosaki standing in his Soul Reaper uniform with his over-sized katana withdrawn. "I'm Kurosaki Ichigo, the one who will beat you. Nice to meet you." A look of shock was smacked on everyone's face.

Abarai smirked. "I see now, you're the human who took Rukia's power." He then leaped from his perch and clashed swords with Kurosaki. He repeatedly beat his sword down on Kurosaki's larger weapon, criticizing him for not knowing anything about his sword.

"Ichigo!" Kuchiki screamed. She stepped forward to approach his side, but Ishida grabbed her by the ankle.

Before blacking out, he quietly said, "Don't go." Ayame got on her knees next to Ishida. She carefully turned him onto his back, and then rested his head on her lap. The wound looked deep and the blood stained his nice blue shirt. It was hard to resist, but Ayame brushed some of his hair from his face.

"You're an idiot for coming here," Abarai told Kurosaki. What he said was of some interested to Ayame. She heard that Kuchiki would get her powers back after Kurosaki was killed, and then she would die back at the Soul Society. Then, he bragged about Kurosaki would not be able to even make a scratch on a Soul Reaper like him and his captain. Ayame gasped and looked up to see the second Soul Reaper. He gave off a cold, disinterested air that sent chills down her spine.

"You let your guard down," he said in a cool, monotone voice. "That boy was the one who severely injured the Menos Grande, forcing it back to Hueco Mundo."

Abarai laughed at this. "How ridiculous is that? Seriously, Kuchiki-taichō, are you looking at his zanpakutō? It's big, pitiful, and useless! I bet he doesn't even know the name of his zanpakutō."

"You guys give your swords names?" Kurosaki interjected.

The tattooed Soul Reaper laughed again. "And you consider us equals? Well, you're two-thousand years too late!"

Ayame watched in awe and fright as Abarai's sword took on a new form with the swipe of his free hand. She was literally frozen but shaking with fear. "Kawano-san." A gasp managed to leave her lips after holding her breath for a long time. Ishida had opened his eyes enough to see her. "Get out while you can. No one else needs to get hurt." Ayame looked down at him, and shook her head.

"I'm not leaving without you, Kuchiki, or Kurosaki."

Ishida gave her a blank stare, and then closed his eyes again. Ayame looked back up in time to see Abarai's transformed sword dig into Kurosaki's shoulder. He rmouth dropped open as she witnessed the Soul Reaper drag the blade through Kurosaki's flesh. Kurosaki dropped to his knees, eyes wide and eyebrows quivering.


	7. Taking Chances

If you haven't yet, check out my friend VanityIre's Harry Potter fanfic!

I do not own Bleach or its canon, only the non-canon in the fanfiction.

A/N: I have finally reached the 20,000 word mark for NaNoWriMo... which makes me behind by 10,000. Lord, if you'll kindly, help me!

This entry has 4,236 words.

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><p><strong>Chapter Seven: Taking Chances<strong>

Ayame woke up early the next morning. She got dressed into her school uniform, and started packing her bag. The doorbell rang. Her digital clock sitting on her desk read six o'clock. It was extremely odd for someone to visit this early in the morning. She left her packing unfinished to check out who the visitor could be. Ayame's grandfather was already at the front door to answer. The sun peaked in through the windows and open doorway, brightening the inside of the house more than the florescent bulbs could. She stopped at the foot of the stairs and hid from view to spy on the conversation her grandfather had with the visitor.

Orihime looked up and gave a small, hopeful smile. "I see. In your own way, you're doing your best." She stood up and held her hands behind her back. "I'm going to think it over again carefully." Orihime looked up through the trees. "It's certain that I'm going through some changes. I'm scared, but I want to know more about these changes." Ayame found that she could relate to Orihime. She had only recently been exposed to her own abilities. "See you around?" Orihime, Yasutora, and Yoruichi left Ayame and Ishida.

"You have no business coming this early," she heard her grandfather grumble. "Do you know what time it is?"

"I am deeply sorry for coming at this hour." Ayame's eyes widened and her breath caught when the visitor spoke. "I couldn't come at a later time. Is Kawano-san awake?" She held her back to the stairway wall and held a hand to her chest.

There was a pause before her grandfather answered. "What do you want with her? She's got important things to do before heading to school." Her grandfather started closing the door. "You'll have to see her at school or after school."

"Ojii-san!" Ayame came running out from the stairwell, almost slipping in her socks as sshe sprinted forward. She latched a hand on the edge of the door before it closed on Ishida's face. Her grip was firm and she put more than enough force behind her swing to open the door all the way again. In her rush, her skin blushed and her heartbeat sped up. "H-he's just kidding. Right, ojii-san?" She looked down at the old man as she held the door open. Ishida stood with a slightly scared expression on his face. The burst of her energy must have spooked him, but Ayame did not notice.

"This will be the only time it happens, Ayame!" He turned around to leave her alone with Ishida. She could swear she saw him grin a little.

Ayame turned back to Ishida and bowed. "Ohayou, Ishida-kun!" She grinned happily. "What brings you here so early?" Her smile dropped and she put on a thinking face. "How did you know this was where I lived? You were only here once."

"I have a pretty good memory," he answered.

"Oh." Ayame grinned again. "What can I do you for? Would you like to come in?" She stood aside to allow him entrance. Instead of taking her invitation, however, he stayed outside.

Ishida pushed his glasses up. "Kawano-san, I'm here to take you to a training spot. Did you forget already that I was going to train you to control your abilities?" He folded his arms and gave her a serious look.

She looked a bit disappointed. "I haven't forgotten. What about school? I can't miss the day before summer vacation."

"Training comes before school. Oh, and you should pack some clean clothes."

Ayame's gaze drifted downward and she sighed. Her grandparents had high hopes for her to be a model student. So far, she has been a very good student: no missed days, never getting too sick, studying extra hard and long, and reading a lot. She would feel dirty, to say the least, if she missed a day for any reason.

"If you can't accept that, then I've clearly made a mistake in trusting you. I will be on my way, then. Bai-bai, Kawano-san." He turned around and started walking away.

She gasped and then shouted, "Wait! Ishida-kun!" He stopped and looked over his shoulder. She had both of her hands holding each other to her chest as she stood in the doorway. "Just… just give me a minute to change out of my uniform. Please, come in while you wait." Ishida turned completely around, bowed, and then entered the house. She showed him to the dining area, and offered him a place to sit. "Obaa-san! Do we have some fresh tea?"

"Of course, Ayame-chan." The older woman had a tray already prepared with two cups for tea and a warm teapot.

"Arigatō, obaa-san." Ayame smiled to her grandmother, and then looked at Ishida. "I'll be back down in a minute." She bowed to him respectfully before rushing off back up the stairs to her bedroom. When she got to her room, she closed the door and put her back up against it. She felt her face and found it warm. Was it from the running upstairs or the sight of Ishida at her door? Whatever it was, it made her heart pound really fast and her head dizzy. "Ayame, control yourself." She cleared her throat, stood up straight, and then walked to her closet.

Her school skirt was replaced by a plain blue skirt, and she changed out of her school top and into a white halter top which she covered with a dark blue cropped jacket. Before leaving with a pink-and-yellow-and-white flower print bucket bag, Ayame made sure her hair was brushed and made up. Clean underwear and three shirts and one pair of jeans were stuffed into the bag. She re-tied the yellow band holding a pinch of strands beside her face, and switched to a new clasp to put the rest of her hair up. There was no time to bother with make-up – the longer she made Ishida wait, the antsier she felt. The straps of her bag made it easy to not have to worry about dropping it somewhere and leaving her money and identification cards for someone to take. "Okay, Ayame, you're ready as you'll ever be." She took a moment to take a deep breath, and then put on a cheery face and a calm air.

Ishida was drinking the tea her grandmother had made when Ayame got to the bottom of the stairs. "I'm ready!" She held her straps in either hand and tried to look cute. He put his cup down before looking at her. His reaction was not what she had hoped, but at least he looked at her.

"Dōmo arigatō, Kawano-san," he directed to her grandmother. "The tea was nice."

Ayame went to the entrance and slipped into her white slip-on sneakers. She opened the door but waited for Ishida to approach. He put his shoes on and left the house. "I'll be back later, ojii-san, obaa-san!"

"Have a fun time!" Her grandmother called back before the front door was closed. She sighed and put a hand to her cheek. "I wonder if it's a date."

"It better not be! Ayame!" Ayame's grandfather stormed toward the door, but was held back by her grandmother. "Get back here! How dare you play hooky!"

Ayame could have sworn she heard her grandfather yelling. She shrugged it off because all she heard was his muffled shouting. "I-Ishida-kun?"

"Hmm?"

"Where are we going?"

"There's a place my grandfather used to take me when he taught me techniques. It's not too far."

"Okay."

She puffed her cheeks out after sighing. The walk was quiet. There had to be something to fill the silence. But what could they talk about? She was scared to mention something that would elicit a negative response from Ishida. Of course, she knew that nothing would be accomplished if she did not try. Her mouth opened, but dismissed her thought and she closed it again. Another minute went by and she opened her mouth again. She closed it once more. Seconds later, she opened to speak.

"If you're going to say something, say it," Ishida interrupted her. The only thing she could do is squeak. "You look like a fish when you do that."

Ayame's face flushed. "I was just going to ask what the training would be."

He sighed before replying, "Ok. We're almost there. I'll tell you then."

It was frustrating to walk in silence for ten more minutes. Ayame started watching her feet the rest of the way there. Seeing that her stride was in-sync with Ishida's renewed her happiness, however. She was confused when he stopped walking.

"We're here." He put his hands on his hips and gazed down a path.

Ayame looked up. "More walking?" she whined.

"Don't complain. Part of the training is learning patience. It's only a little further."

The spot they came to was serene. Her mouth hung open in awe, and she could not stop saying things like, "oh my gosh" and "wow". She took the straps of her bag off her shoulders. The bag fell to the ground with a soft thump. Ayame gazed at the waterfall from bottom to top to bottom, and then down the waterway. There were just enough shrubbery, trees, and rocks for privacy but not too much to be unaesthetic.

Ishida stood proud with his arms folded across his chest. "This is where I would sometimes train with my sensei. I still use it for training even though he's no longer alive. It's the perfect place for privacy." He walked up closer to the waterfall. Ayame turned her head to see him standing directly beside her. His expression told her he was lost in memories. She knew it was best to not break the quiet. It was nice, however, and she was rather happy with things as they were in that moment.

"Oh! Here they are!" Orihime's high voice brought both out of their thoughts. "Ishida-kun! Kawano-san! Ya-ho!"

Ayame looked over her shoulder before turning slightly to see Orihime and Chad better. Ishida turned around, too, with a trace of his wandering mind hanging in his expression. The moment he touched his glasses, he looked surprised that they were here. "Inoue-san, Yasutora-kun. What are you doing here?" He and Ayame walked up to their classmates, meeting them halfway.

Orihime stopped and put her hands in front of her below her waist. "We asked Yoruichi-san to follow your spiritual aura."

"Yoruichi?" Ayame asked, tilting her head to the right.

"Whatcha doin'? Are you two camping?"

Ishida glanced over to the duffel bag and wooden box on the ground nearby. "No!"

A voice came from nowhere. "You're training, right?"

Ishida was scared. He looked around and asked "Who's there?"

Ayame giggled. She happened to be looking at the source of the voice.

"Where are you looking? Over here," the cat spoke again, waving its paw in a human-like gesture to get Ishida's attention. Once Ishida found the cat, the cat smiled and continued. "I'm Yoruichi."

A split second later, Ishida was freaking out. He crossed his arms in front of him and screamed. "What? Huh? A cat? A cat is – ?" Ayame started laughing a bit harder.

"So? What's the big deal that a cat can talk?" the cat said. "Don't be a wimp."

"Yeah, Uryū," Orihime said energetically.

Ayame calmed herself down, but still had a big grin on her face, to add, "It's not that big of a deal."

Yasutora put his own thoughts to words, saying: "No… I think it's normal if someone is mildly traumatized by it." His own expression reflected his reaction, possibly the same one as when he found out the cat could talk.

Ishida was shaking, but stopped jerking about. His final pose was rather comical, especially with his spooked expression. The cat sighed. "Men have such a hard time adapting to things." Ishida quickly fixed himself into a normal pose and less dramatic expression. He turned to the side and pushed his glasses up.

"I'm sorry." Ishida cleared his throat. "What was it you wanted?"

"Well… " Orihime began. "Is it okay if we sit? We've been walking for a while."

They all gathered to sit on some rocks that were close together on the ground. Orihime sat between Yasutora and Yoruichi, and across from them sat Ishida and Ayame. "Ichigo is going to the Soul Society?" Ishida asked.

Orihime nodded. "He's going to go rescue Rukia. So, we all thought we should tell you, too."

"Unfortunately," Ishida replied and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "it has nothing to do with either of us."

"But Rukia's life is in danger!" Orihime said.  
>At the same time, Ayame objected Ishida's answer with, "But she's our friend, isn't she?"<p>

Ishida glanced to Ayame, gazing at her for a long time, and then looked straight at Orihime. "As a Quincy, I can't forgive myself for losing to a Soul Reaper. That is why I train." Disappointment overcame Orihime. The air flowing around everyone had a quiet sadness.

Orihime looked up and gave a small, hopeful smile. "I see. In your own way, you're doing your best." She stood up and held her hands behind her back. "I'm going to think it over again carefully." Orihime looked up through the trees. "It's certain that I'm going through some changes. I'm scared, but I want to know more about these changes." Ayame found that she could relate to Orihime. She had only recently been exposed to her own abilities. "See you around?" Orihime, Yasutora, and Yoruichi left Ayame and Ishida.

Ayame waved good-bye and watched them walk away until they were no longer in sight. Ishida had walked over to the wooden box, flicked open a clasp that held string around it, and then opened the box with both of his hands. "Are they gone?"

"Yeah." She turned around to see Ishida removing a glove from the case. The white glove had blue lines running up it to form a cross at the wrist, and the underside of the thumb and index fingers were blue.

"I didn't want them to see this," he said as he put it on. "This is the Sanrei Glove. My sensei gave it to me." Ishida stood up. "It's purpose is to enhance a Quincy's ability to collect reishi, spirit particles, and augment speed and stamina." He dropped his head a little and pushed his glasses up with his bare hand. "To train with it takes a week to successfully complete."

"A week?"

Ishida turned toward her and gave her a serious look. He frightened her with his furrowed brow and scowl. "I told you this would not be a walk in the park! Are you turning back now, when the opportunity to become stronger is right in front of you? You're such a fickle person! If I knew you'd be a waste of time, I wouldn't have bothered with you!"

Ayame cringed, stepped one foot back in reaction.

"Now," he calmed down. His brow was not furrowed anymore, and his scowl turned into a tame frown. "Because this is the only one I have, it seemed your training would not benefit too much by the end of the week." Ishida turned then bent over to the duffel bag, and pulled out an identical but smaller glove. "I couldn't make an exact duplication of it, but I was able to find a way to create something similar. It takes just as long to complete the training, but you can remove it easily without repercussions at the end of the week if you want."

She took the glove with interest, and then put it on her left hand.

"That's… the wrong hand."

"What?"

"You don't use your right hand to hold your bow?"

"Uhm… no." Ayame removed the cross hanging around her wrist, then put it back on over the glove. "When you're right handed, you hold the bow with your left hand." There was a brief silence between them. She felt like she was missing something.

"Okay." He adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat. "The first thing you need to work on now is summoning your bow."

"Well, that's easy." She lifted her hand, looking toward the waterfall, and concentrated. "I've done it before."

Ishida stood behind her with his arms crossed. When nothing happened, the silence returned with a huge hypothetical slap of awkward to the back of her head. Ayame stood, taken back by the surprise that she could not summon the bow.

A grin curled at one corner of Ishida's lips. "The glove acts as a restraint. It prevents the wielder from summoning their bow on a whim. You have to work harder to gather enough reishi for your bow." Ayame gritted her teeth and wished he had told her that before. "One more thing: once you have summoned your bow, you are required to keep it from dissipating. That is the most difficult part of the training."

She kept her eyes ahead of her and her arm out. "I know I can do this," Ayame said to herself. She squinted her eyes as she focused on her first task. It was an embarrassing half hour spent standing with her arm outstretched and gaze forward. There was no time to look to see how Ishida was doing, as much as she wanted to. The first step was turning out to be too much about summoning a bow and not enough about wielding it and firing arrows.

At the end of the first day, Ayame was on her back with her arms spread wide. She was on the brink of giving up. The sky had turned a light navy blue and the clouds were becoming sparse. Stars began appearing, and crickets and cicadas started an orchestra.

"We can set up camp here. It would keep us from drawing attention to ourselves and what we're doing." Ishida approached Ayame. She got up on her elbows and gaped at the bow he was able to summon. "What are you doing? You're supposed to be training. You could've had a bow already if you hadn't stopped trying half an hour ago." He did not wait for her to respond. Ishida opened his duffel bag and pulled out two sleeping bags and tent canvas. "We'll be here for the week, which means we can't go anywhere."

"What?" Ayame sat up and crossed her legs. "Are you serious?"

"What do you expect?" He said. "We can't risk exposing ourselves."

Ayame pouted.

"Help me set up the tent," he added. "It's only meant for one person. I'll let you use it."

Before this, she would have pardoned his behaviour for being such a gentleman, but right now she was not too happy with having to sleep outside. Mosquitoes were starting to come in swarms. There was an owl nearby that made her jump when it hooted. "Thanks," was all she could manage to say without too much acid in her tone.

She finished setting up the tent, and Ishida tossed her the dark green sleeping bag. "Don't worry about anything happening. Right now, there shouldn't be a Hollow problem because of Ichigo's attack on the Menos Grande." Ayame nodded and tossed the sleeping bag into the tent. She went into the quaint shelter, but turned around to poke her head out to say good night. Ishida was already back to training. His expression was permanently serious as he continuously fired one arrow after the other. It appeared that he was prepared for her first day of failure. Something inside her cursed Ishida and wished for him to make some clumsy mistake for once in his life. Ayame kept the tent open so she could watch Ishida. She kept her eyes open for as long as she could, but ended up falling asleep an hour later on her stomach with her head resting on her arms.

In the morning, she woke up to find Ishida still shooting arrows. Getting changed into the jeans and a plain white long-sleeved shirt was the first thing she did. Without saying anything, Ayame stood erect next to the shore and pointed her arm out. She was determined to not give up this time. Ishida looked unaffected by the effort it took to summon and hold his bow in constant form, and then continuously shoot one arrow after another. At first, it was difficult. Ayame was finally able to summon her bow, slowly, out of reishi. She gritted her teeth because she did not know it would put a strain on her body physically and spiritually.

"Good job," Ishida said between shooting arrows. "Now, can you keep it? Start creating your arrows, and fire at will. Remember to not let your bow dissipate. If you do, you risk the chance of losing your Quincy powers forever."

Ayame looked over her shoulder to gaze at him with wide eyes. A bead of sweat dripped down from her forehead to her neck. _Why would he be so reckless and not tell me this before?_ She started to panic, but kept her poise. He had to be joking. Ayame felt her arms start to ache when she pulled her right hand back, drawing an arrow from the same reishi that made her bow. A very brief relief came over her when she released the arrow. The arrow dissipated when it hit the water, but it made no damage upon impact.

"Again, you can't stop!" Ishida instructed. Sweat beads already dotted his forehead as he continued to shoot arrows.

She repeated her previous action, and then shot another arrow. This happened for four more days. Ishida had to remind her to stay strong and fight through the pain. Ayame wanted to make him proud, so she did not argue. When the physical strain on her body become too intense, she could only grit her teeth. Her hands, fully healed when Ishida had gone to her grandparents' house to pick her up, were being cut up by untamed reishi and the strain the activity put on her body. Eventually, her arms were cut from the exertion.

"Keep your mind clear," Ishida told her on the third day. "Focus on the reishi and your bow." It was easier said than done. She saw that he had not yet been in as much pain or marked as much as her hands by the end of day three. Ayame fought to keep her mind clear, but once in a while her thoughts wandered to the pain in her arms, chest, back, and legs.

"Hang in there, Kawano-san," he would encourage her by the fourth day. "You're doing a lot better. Remember to keep your back and shoulders straight, and level your elbow out when you pull back."

"Yes, sir!" She could not respond to any of his encouragements or criticisms with variety. If she said more than four words, she feared she would mislay control and permanently lose her Quincy powers.

The last day of training finally arrived. Ayame's hands were bloodier than she had ever wanted them to be in her life. She had endured so much strain and pain all over her body for so long that her body felt almost numb to everything. "I-Ishida-kun?" Sweat dripped from her chin as she rushed another shot. She could not turn her head to glance at him.

He approached her, his own training finished, and put a hand on her shoulder. "You're still not straight." He repositioned her elbow, and then put a hand on her shoulder to hold her still as he put his other hand on the middle of her back to keep her straight.

"I'm s-sorry," she apologised through gritted teeth.

Ishida's voice became softer. "It's fine. You're newer to this kind of exertion."

She pulled back an arrow and released it after holding her breath for two seconds. When the arrow was gone, Ayame felt her body get weak. Ishida caught her around the waist from behind before she fell to her knees. "I… ruined your glove," she mumbled. Both of her hands had multiple cuts, and fresh blood flowed over dried lines of blood from previous days. Ishida did not say anything about the glove. He walked over to the duffel bag after making sure she could sit up-right on her own. From it, he drew out a bottle of water.

"Give me your hands," he commanded. Ayame watched him get into a crouch in front of her before showing him her open hands. His own hands had cuts and blood, but she noted that he took the time to treat her before himself. "I can fix it later," he added. Ishida poured the cool water over her palms. Ayame cringed and inhaled sharply in shock. Her body had regained feeling after the bow dissipated. Never before had she thought that she could withstand so much pain.

"What happens now?" Ayame asked.

Ishida finished tending to her hands, and then walked over to the river to wash his own hands. "Now, we pack our things and go find Kurosaki and the others before they leave."

Ayame blinked and slowly got up. "But I thought you said you weren't –"

"I know what I said," he interrupted. "The past two days, I've thought about it. We'll help rescue Rukia."

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><p>AN: I do NOT edit this for the fact that this is for NANOWRIMO - editing is pretty much a taboo for NaNoWriMo participants. Because NaNoWriMo is more about quantity than quality, I am trying to find a way to have quality without dragging the story on. This may cause some parts to feel rushed or unfinished. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	8. Caught in a Storm

If you haven't yet, check out my friend VanityIre's Harry Potter fanfic!

I do not own Bleach or its canon, only the non-canon in the fanfiction.

A/N: Day 21... and I'm behind by about 25,000 words.

This entry has 2,951 words.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Eight: Caught in a Storm<strong>

"I-ishida-kun?" Ayame stood on one side of the table in her grandparents' house. She had her head turned down and focused on her fingers as she played with her nails.

On the other side, sitting in a chair, was Ishida. He was sewing together the glove she had worn an hour ago. "What is it?" His glove was still on his left hand, giving him an odd appearance; however, he had informed her that he could not remove it easily like hers.

"There's still a fireworks festival to go see… would you want to go?" She paused to glance up from her fidgeting to see if he was looking at her. He was not. "With training over, there's some time to loosen up. And it's –"

"I am not going." He answered flatly. "There is a lot to prepare for." He hesitated in his answer and sewing. "You can go if you want."

Ayame felt depressed about being rejected. "Oh… okay," she said quietly. She turned around, cast him a quick glance before leaving the room, and headed upstairs to her room. When she came back down in a light blue yukata with white Japanese lilies and dark blue lines, and a white soft obi tied around her waist, Ayame felt pretty. She had let her hair down and rearranged it into a loose, low-hanging bun and added a silver butterfly clip for decoration.

Ishida looked up and he stopped everything he was doing. Ayame looked down on him. "I'll be back when they're over," she said and left. She could feel his eyes on her as she walked out of the house. It made her smile knowing she could get at least one person to stop and stare at her.

She found the center of festivities. A few others, like her, wore yukata. A few people down, she saw Yasutora. _The others must be there, too._ Ayame wanted to say hello. She was stopped before she got too close.

"Kawano-san?"

Ayame turned to face who called out her name. "Hai, Ishida-kun?"

"I finished the glove," he said and presented the repaired glove to her.

She smiled and took the glove. "You could've left it at my house."

"It's best if you keep it on."

"But I thought training was over?"

Ishida sighed. "Right now, you should be –" He stopped before he could continue.

"What is it?" Ayame turned around to see what it is he saw. She was pushed between two festival stalls and then to her knees. Ishida crouched close to her and stuck his head out from the cover of the stall to watch whoever was walking toward them. "Ishida-kun?" She blinked and closed her lips when he put his hand over her mouth. The contact was enough to make her skin flush and crawl. And his body was awfully close to hers as they hid between the stalls. Ayame put her eyes on his face. He looked scared. Who was it he saw? She looked at the reflections in his glasses. Kurosaki, Yasutora, and a few others traveled together as a group. They chattered as they walked on, passing Ishida and Ayame without a glance. Once Ishida removed his hand from her mouth, she asked, "What's the matter with you?"

He pushed his glasses up before answering. "I don't want anyone getting any ideas."

Ayame wanted to get up, but it was difficult with Ishida so close. The space between the stalls was smaller than she had imagined before. "Well, now that you've come to do what you wanted, you can go back to your business, then."

The two of them struggled to get their balances. As Ayame tried to stand, her knee cramped. The jolt of pain caused her to lose her balance. She got back up quickly. The speed at which she took to stand caused her to crash into Ishida's chin.

"Uhn!" Ishida instinctively put a hand to his chin.

Ayame held onto the top of her head and moaned, "Itai~!"

"Watch what you're doing!"

She gave him a sharp glare, and then left. Ayame rubbed her head with one hand. The glove Ishida had given to her was in her fist. _What am I doing?_ She asked herself. Tears started welling up, but she resisted the want to cry. She would not cry until she was away from the public. Part of her hoped Ishida would follow her and say something. Another part knew it would not happen.

The fireworks were wonderful: bright, big, colourful, and loud against the starry night sky. Ayame had found a quiet place to sit and watch them. She admired the fireworks' reflections in the water of the river. Once in a while she would be distracted by a firefly or the chirp of a cricket. The majority of her attention was on the fireworks, however. She almost forgot about crying when the firework show began. When the fireworks were over, she walked back home to get some sleep.

A box sat on the table at home. Ishida must have left it there because it was not there when she left for the festival. She opened the box to find a white tunic and white pants. The only distinctive feature was a long, thin, four-pointed blue cross printed on either side of the tunic. There was a letter that came with the outfit. Ayame picked up the note, then unfolded it to read: "Don't give up now that you've completed your training – we can save Rukia." She carefully folded the clothes back into the box, placed the note on top of the tunic, and then took the box upstairs where she left it on top of her bed.

After taking a shower and putting on her pajamas, she sat on her bed and stared at the contents of the open box. She bit down on her thumb. This had to be a sign. He really must want her to follow him. It should not be hard to figure out. Ayame sighed, then propped a leg up to rest her head. _I haven't known any of my classmates for long_, she thought. _Is it smart to go do something for someone I barely know?_ She sat up straight and crossed her legs. _It's not like I_have _to do it, right?_

Ayame got up from her bed and snatched up the tunic. The fabric felt comfortable and durable. She stared at the clothing, pondering why she should go help the others. "Damn it, Ayame!" Her tunic was thrown down on the bed. The expression on her face changed from anger to disappointment. "He didn't even want to see the fireworks." She sighed. "It's all about proving the Quincy's strength." Without thinking, she removed her shirt and put on the tunic. Next to go was her pajama shorts, replaced by the white pants. She looked at herself in the built-in mirror on her closet door. "It's kind of creepy... how did he know my size?" Ayame played with the front part of the tunic; starting at the waist, the tunic was slit on either side and had flaps reaching down to her knees. The horizontal line of the cross sat on top of her chest, closer to her clavicle, rather than directly on her bosom. Only one thing remind: the glove. Ayame equipped the glove on her left hand. Having only the one hand gloved looked odd.

She was admiring herself, styling her hair in the same way she did for school, in the mirror when the doorbell rang. Before either of her grandparents could get answer the door, Ayame was downstairs and ready to open it. On the other side was Orihime Inoue.

"I-Inoue?"

"Ah, Kawano-san! I was stopping by to see if you'd thought about going with us to save Rukia."

"Oh." Ayame cast her eyes down.

"What're you wearing?" Orihime giggled.

Ayame put her bare hand over her chest. "I don't know. Something Ishida-kun left me."

Orihime smiled. "He's strange, isn't he?"

Ayame grinned and thought, That's one way of putting it.

"So," her classmate cut through the silence, "are you joining us? Sado's already at the shoppe, and Ichigo should be there!" When Ayame did not give an instant answer and glanced over her shoulder, Orihime tried to cheer her up. "If you're still not sure about what you can do, I'll train with you! We could use all the help we can get."

Ayame looked at Orihime to see her big stupid grin. It was hard to not smile back at the orange-haired girl. "I guess." She nodded.

"No!" Orihime shouted.

"What?" She gasped, put on a pair of sneakers, and pushed Orihime outside to move their conversation away form her grandparents', who might have been awakened by the door bell. "I thought you wanted me to go?"

"It can't be 'I guess'!" Orihime put a hand on her hip and waged a finger in Ayame's face. "You have to say it like you mean it!"

"But, Inoue..."

"Kawano-san," Orihime become quiet and looked sad, "hasn't Rukia helped you in some way?"

Ayame looked at Orihime, confused at first. There really had been no real interaction between her and Rukia. They were only classmates. Then, Ayame remembered the night Rukia had been taken away by the two Soul Reapers. She understood what would happen to Rukia if no one went after her. Classmates or complete strangers, Ayame honestly did not like knowing Rukia would be executed. Her only friend had been effected by the Soul Reaper. The thought of Orihime being depressed for a long time if nothing was done... it hurt Ayame.

"Ano..." she began. "Inoue-san?"

Orihime looked up.

Ayame put on a big smile. She made fists and shook them briefly in front of her for emphasis. "I'll do my best to help in any way I can!"

"Ah~!" Orihime's eyes widened and she pumped a fist into the air. "All right! Let's go! Follow me!"

At the moment Orihime turned one last corner, she said, "We're here!"

Kurosaki turned around, shocked. "Inoue! Kawano!"

Ayame came out from behind Orihime, grinned and waved.

"Take care of us!" Orihime said happily and bowed. Ayame followed Orihime's lead and bowed.

When she stood up, Ayame glanced around to see Yasutora and Ishida were there, too. So was the man with the cane and hat. She avoided looking at Ishida for too long.

"What's this? Hey! What the heck's going on?" Kurosaki shouted in confusion.

The black cat she had seen with Orihime and Yasutora a week ago approached the group. "A little slow, aren't you?"

"Yoruichi!" Orihime gasped.

The cat continued. "Don't tell me you hadn't sensed the sudden increase in their spiritual power." Kurosaki glanced over his four classmates with a dumb look on his face. "While you were working to regain your Soul Reaper power, these four were training, too." Orihime and Ayame joined the other two. Yoruichi turned around and jumped for Ayame's arms. She caught the cat and held it gently. " Instead of freaking out, you should show your gratitude."

There was a long pause. Kurosaki started stuttering, then freaked out. "That cat just talked!" He threw his hands up and then put them on his head.

"He's not a cat, Ichigo." Orihime said with a frown. "He's Yoruichi."

Kurosaki stuttered the word cat.

"It is shocking, after all," Ishida commented.

Yasutora added, "It's his first time seeing Yoruichi."

Ayame sighed. "Men."

"Ok~!" The group's attention was drawn to Urahara – Orihime had told Ayame his name on their walk over – as he clapped. "We can't stay out here talking forever! Let's go inside!" They did as he suggested and started for the shoppe. Orihime was stopped by Kurosaki, but no one seemed to mind.

"I must admit I'm surprised," Ishida spoke to Ayame after walking up to her, "that you decided to come. It's going to be dangerous."

"I know the dangers!" Ayame snapped quietly at him.

Yoruichi squirmed in her arms to remind her the cat was still with her. "It might be more dangerous than you think, Kawano-san." The cat turned to look directly at Ayame. "Especially now that there's one more Quincy left in the world the Soul Reapers didn't know of. A woman, too. Excuse me." Yoruichi jumped out of Ayame's arms and walked into the shoppe. Ayame and Ishida were left to stand in silence.

"Do you still want to tag along?"

Ayame looked up to Ishida. She was more scared now than she had been an hour ago. There was a determination in her that showed on her face. "Yeah," she said and turned toward the door, "and I don't think you should worry about me. We've got friends with us."

"But Kawano-san." She stopped and turned back around to face Ishida. "Why are you coming with us?"

There had not been a real time when she could think straight about her decision. Ayame had actually never thought about a solid reason for joining the others to save Rukia. Her gaze drifted to their feet. "I guess..." she paused and then looked up, "I guess that I want to help save Rukia. Inoue came to my house and told me that it would be nice to have extra help. And the look on her face..."

"You two coming inside or what?"

Ayame's skin jumped when Kurosaki spoke behind her.

"H-hai!" She ran inside before anything else could be said or asked.

Everyone traveled to an underground room.

"S-sugoi!" Orihime exclaimed and clapped her hands together.

"This room is huge!" Ayame said in equal amazement. "How did it get here?"

Orihime added, "It's like a secret base!"

A tall man with glasses, a mustache, and cornrows came up to the girls and took one of their hands into one of his big hands. With the other hand, he dabbed his eyes with a handkerchief. "Th-thank you! I, Tessai, am deeply moved by your reactions!"

"D-don't mention it," Ayame mumbled.

"You're welcome." Orihime blushed and looked just as nervous as Ayame.

Urahara clapped his hands again. "All right! Attention, attention, please! Here we go!" He made a sound, snapped his fingers, and a square that looked like it was made of papier-mâché appeared out of nowhere. "This gate leads to the Soul Society. It's known as Senkaimon, or Tunnel World Gate." His expression became serious. "Now, pay close attention..." He raised his cane and hit Kurosaki directly on the forehead with the end of it.

Kurosaki was split into two. His human body, caught by Yasutora, was complete dead weight. Ayame and the others gathered around his human body in awe. "Warn me next time, will ya?" he raged.

"It comes out so easy!" Orihime gasped. "So Kurosaki-kun's no longer inside Kurosaki-kun?"

Urahara started chuckling, his back to them.

"Obviously not, Inoue-san!" Kurosaki exclaimed. "Stop talking like I'm not here!"

"Let's continue!" Urahara announced. "There is a layer of Reishihenkanki, Spirit-particle Conversion Machine, on top of the normal Senkaimon."

"Reishihenkanki?" Kurosaki echoed. Ayame attempted to say it, but stumbled over it.

"Hai." Urahara continued. "You should already know that the Soul Society is a world of spirits. It's not possible to enter the Soul Society unless you are a spirit or have the form of one. This means that only Kurosaki, as a Soul Reaper, can pass through. To allow the rest of you to cross, we will convert you into into spirits using the Henkanki."

Ishida spoke up. "So you're saying, without extracting our spirits, by passing through this gate..."

"Correct," Urahara interrupted. "You'll be able to enter the Soul Society as you are now."

"Alright! Let's – " Kurosaki started forward.

Urahara was quick to jab him in his side before he passed him. "But! There is a limit to how long we can hold the connection between the gate and Soul Society open; four minutes."

Everyone is shocked and gasps. Ayame, worried, asked, "Is that enough time?"

"Normally? It's impossible," Urahara answered.

Kurosaki blurted out, "What?"

Urahara's face and tone became serious. "It was a reckless idea to begin with, but I'll do my best to hold it open for that long. If you can't make it to the other side in time... you'll be trapped in there, between this world and the Soul Society, forever."

Ayame and Orihime glanced at each other and then looked back to Urahara. Orihime asked, "Then, what should we do?"

"Go forward," Yoruichi said. The cat walked between Orihime and Yasutora, and stopped to finish talking. "The heart and the soul are connected. What is important is what you feel in your heart, and the will to move forward. Your guide will be me." Yoruichi looked behind to see the group of students. "Only those who go forward... follow me."

"Are you an idiot?" Kurosaki stepped forward. "Isn't that why we're here?"

"Kid, you understand that you cannot return if you fail?"

"So winning's the only option, right?"

It was quiet for a moment. Ayame was beginning to have second thoughts. She felt a hand grab hers. The hand belonged to Orihime. Her classmate gave her a soft smile and nodded in reassurance. Ayame grinned back, feeling a little better. Yoruichi stared at Kurosaki and answered, "Correct."

Seconds later, the portal glowed blue. Urahara and Tessai kneeled on either side, creating the blue light illuminating the portal inside the square frame. Urahara looked at the small group. "Ready? Remember, run in the instant it opens."

"Got it!" Kurosaki grunted.

Ayame and Orihime chimed, "Right!"

Urahara and Tessai then opened the gate. Light blinded the area for a moment, and then they were all transported into the Senkaimon.

* * *

><p>AN: I do NOT edit this for the fact that this is for NANOWRIMO - editing is pretty much a taboo for NaNoWriMo participants. Because NaNoWriMo is more about quantity than quality, I am trying to find a way to have quality without dragging the story on. This may cause some parts to feel rushed or unfinished. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


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